SCAR Lifetime Achievement Awards Presented at Eutaws Conference

Transcription

1 Vol. 3 Nos October - November 2006 SCAR Lfetme Achevement Awards Presented at Eutaws Conference Denns M. Conrad Lfetme Achevement n Hstorc Research George D. Felds, Jr. Battlefeld Preservaton Chrstne R. Swager Youth Educaton Dr. Denns M. Conrad s awarded the 2006 SCAR Lfetme Achevement Award n Hstorc Research for hs servce as edtor and project drector of the monumental Papers of General Nathanael Greene where he drected the completon of volumes 7 through 12 of that seres coverng Greene s campagns n the South. He also served as contrbutng edtor for volume 13, the fnal volume n the seres that was publshed late last year. Gen. Greene was also the subject of Conrad s doctoral dssertaton at Duke Unversty. Denns now works as an hstoran at the early hstory branch of the Naval Hstorcal Center. There he helps edt the Naval Documents of the Amercan Revoluton seres. Pror to comng to the NHC, he wrote about John Paul Jones wth E. Gordon Bowen-Hassell and Mark L. Hayes n Sea Raders of the Amercan Revoluton: The Contnental Navy n European Waters. Dr. George D. Felds, Jr. s the Drector of the Mltary Hertage Program of the Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton. George s awarded the 2006 SCAR Lfetme Achevement Award for Battlefeld Preservaton for provdng advocacy and leadershp of successful programs to preserve Revolutonary War battlefelds n South Carolna ncludng: Battles of Camden, Musgrove Mll, and Blackstock s Plantaton, Maron s camps at Snow Island and Lee s trenches at Nnety-Sx Natonal Hstorc Ste. The Mltary Hertage Program has also asssted n varous mprovement programs at Cowpens Natonal Battlefeld, Earle s Ford, Eutaw Sprngs, Fsh Dam Ford Battlefeld, Cedar Sprng battlefelds, and Fort Charlotte. George s a natve of Lamar, SC and a graduate of Wofford College, Emory Unversty, and three senor mltary colleges and unverstes. He has been an advocate for preservaton of battlefelds snce hs retrement n 1997 as a Unted Methodst Church Mnster and Presdent of Spartanburg Methodst College. He s also a retred army Brgader General wth 43 years of actve and reserve duty n the artllery, nfantry and chaplancy. Dr. Chrstne R. Swager, retred professor of educaton, storyteller and author of three award wnnng youth books on the Southern Campagn: Black Crows and Whte Cockades, If Ever Your Country Needs You, and Come to the Cow Pens! s awarded the 2006 SCAR Lfetme Achevement Award for Youth Educaton. Her latest book, amed at general readers, The Valant Ded s the frst modern book that covers n detal the Eutaws Campagn of Gen. Nathanael Greene. Chrs, born n Canada, a descendent of both an Amercan who served wth the Brtsh Army and settled n Canada after the war and Contnental solders who fought n Connectcut and Mane, was rased n an area settled by tens of thousands of Loyalsts. Chrs reports that she grew up knowng that there had been a szable Tory resstance and a btter cvl war durng the Revoluton. Chrs s a hghly sought speaker, commentator and newspaper columnst. 1

2 The Eutaws Campagn of Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene - Battle of Eutaw Sprngs Conference & Tour. Southern Campagns of the Amercan Revoluton and the hstorc Church of the Epphany n Eutawvlle, South Carolna presented a successful conference on the Eutaw Sprngs mltary campagn of The Fghtng Quaker - Major General Nathanael Greene; 78 people from 5 states attended the 225 th annversary conference held at the hstorc Church of the Epphany n Eutawvlle, South Carolna and on the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld on September 9 th, Keynote presenter, Dr. Denns M. Conrad, now a hstoran for the Unted States Navy served as the edtor of the fnal volumes of the encyclopedc Papers of General Nathanael Greene. Denns dscrbed Greene s Eutaws campagn and focused on Lt. Col. Lght Horse Harry Lee s role and reactons to Gen. Greene s report to Congress concernng the fght at Eutaw Sprngs. Hs talk was ttled, "He thnks I have not done justce to hs servces": Nathanael Greene, "Lght Horse Harry" Lee and the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs. Dr. Lee F. McGee dscussed the role and uses of cavalry n the Southern Campagns especally at Cowpens, Hobkrk Hll and at Eutaw Sprngs on the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld. Eutaw Sprngs scholars covered all aspects of the battle, the troops engaged, strategy and aftermath of the battle. Author Dr. Chrstne R. Swager dscussed Brtsh & Loyalsts Troops at Eutaw Sprngs; author Robert M. Dunkerly explaned the post battle mltary operatons of both armes; and author Dr. Jm Pecuch dscussed whether the battle represented a vctory or defeat how contemporares and hstorans vew the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs. Jm also revewed the post battle strategc changes n the South. Mltary hstoran Steven J. Rauch detaled Patrot forces at Eutaw Sprngs and descrbed the weapons, unforms and tactcs. Gen. George Felds of the Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton and Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld project archaeologst Scott Butler dscussed the modern battlefeld archaeologcal research and preservaton plannng. Hstorcal novelst Charles F. Prce presented hs experences wrtng about the battle n hs paper: Eutaw Sprngs: Battle as Fact and as Experence, A Novelst s Vew. T he Saturday afternoon tour of the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld on the shores of Lake Maron put attendees on the ground where Gen. Nathanael Greene pushed the Brtsh from the mdlands of South Carolna to ther tdewater enclave around Charleston. Hstorc Gude Davd P. Reuwer (drector of frst Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld survey project) was asssted by mltary hstorans Dr. Lee F. McGee, Steven J. Rauch, Robert M. Dunkerly, and Dr. Jm Pecuch, geologst Dr. Irene Boland, and archaeologst Scott Butler. At fve locatons ths on-the-ground tour of the huge Eutaws battlefeld ponted out the battle chronology, the stes of the tactcal deployments and emphaszed the mpact of topography on the acton. Not much of ths battlefeld s submerged under Lake Maron. Davd Reuwer and Bert Dunkerly dscussed the modern research, nterpretaton and preservaton-challenged geography of the ste of General Greene s greatest vctory. Afternoon program ncluded a commemoratve ceremony to honor those who fought at Eutaw Sprngs at the memoral park conducted by the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs Chapter of the SAR and the Eutaw Sprngs and Wllam Thomson Chapters of the DAR. Attendees were treated to a closng recepton at hstorc Numerta Plantaton on Saturday evenng complete wth a groanng board of hors d'oeuvres and tour of the grand 1840s plantaton home and ts grounds. Vew Bob Yankle s photo gallery of the conference at In Ths Edton: SCAR Achevement Awards...1 Eutaws Campagn Conference Report..2 Edtor / Publsher s Notes...3 Dggng for Informaton: Archaeology Letters to the Edtor..13 Calendar of Upcomng Events.. 15 Book Revew Yorktown 225 th Annversary Report Savannah Hatans Monument. 26 Battle of Brer Creek.27 Patrot Gen. John Ashe The Prévost Famly Patrot Gen. Samuel Elbert...29 Penson Statement of James Fergus.31 2

3 SCAR Publsher Awarded the Order of the Palmetto by SC Governor Mark Sanford A very surprsed and a bt red-faced SCAR Edtor/Publsher Charles B. Baxley receves the State s hghest cvlan recognton from Gov. Mark Sanford on behalf of the State of South Carolna. Photo by Bob Yankle. Edtor / Publsher s Notes "If we have a good Army n the feld they [the Brtsh] may relnqush the project of reducng the Southern States; but f we are neglgent n the present moment we may nvte new calamtes. Act wsely therefore and provde seasonably." Gen. Nathanael Greene to NC Gov. Alexander Martn, November 14, SCAR Corps of Dscovery Trps You are Invted Ths wnter the Corps of Dscovery wll take advantage of the premer Southern battlefeldng season wth feld trps: Jon the Corps on December 10, 2006 for a carpool tour of northwestern SC to stes of Col. Andrew Pckens 1776 Rng Fght and hs Tamassee Mountan home; we wll have a presentaton by Scott Alexander at the extant 1791 fronter post at Oconee Staton. We wll also vst Kngs Mountan hero Col. Benjamn Cleveland s grave; SC Patrot mlta Maj. Samuel Taylor s grave; Gen. Andrew Pckens and Col. Robert Anderson s graves at the Old Stone Church. We wll tour Gen. Andrew Pckens Hopewell House and the ste of the Hopewell Treaty Oak; the ste of Fort Rutledge at Seneca Town and Cherokee Wars battles. Ths tour s free and open to the publc. Oconee Staton wll collect the SC Park user fee of $2.00 per person. Ths day s planned and hosted by Barbara Abernathy and wll leave the town square n Pendleton, SC at 9:00 am. Store buldng at Hstorc Oconee Staton. SCAR photo. On January 20, 2007, the Corps of Dscovery moblzes agan to explore lttle-known Lexngton County Revolutonary War stes wth hstoran Dean Hunt. Begnnng at the reconstructed Cayce House for a tour of the Museum we wll carpool along the Old State Road and stop at ste of Ft. Granby for a dscusson on the Seges on the Brtsh at Fort Granby. Vst the old Granby Cemetery by Congaree Rver; Frdg's (Frday's Ferry), ste of two skrmshes; and dscuss the ste across Congaree Rver the camp of repose at Ancrum's Plantaton. Drve to Congaree Creek brdge, ste of Lee s Legon cavalry, commanded by Maj. Joseph Eggleston's ambush. See ste of bural of herone Emly Geger at her husband s Threewtt's Plantaton. Vst the stes of skrmshes at Tarrar's Sprngs, Muddy Sprngs and Cloud's Creek and tour the Lexngton Museum. Also, vst the ste of the runnng fght at Cedar Creek (Pelon) and the Junper Sprngs skrmsh (Glbert). Ths carpool trp s free and open to the publc. For other Corps of Dscovery trps we are plannng, see page 4: Corps of Dscovery feld trps are organzed upon nvtaton of a host and gude. SCAR publshes a meetng date, tme, and tentatve Revolutonary War related stes to be vsted. We nvte all nterested to car pool, jon the hke and enjoy nformal on-theground, nterpretve presentatons of research. Plan to jon us as t sounds lke fun! SCAR keeps you posted on the detals n the Calendar of Upcomng Events. Tell us about your research and trps to dscover our Revolutonary War hertage. Share n SCAR. Southern Campagns Roundtable Meetng Southern Campagns Roundtable met on October 7, 2006 n Savannah, Georga as the guests of the Coastal Hertage Socety s Savannah Hstory Museum. We toured the Revolutonary War exhbts n the museum and were delghted to be joned by Sr Chrstopher Prevost, Baronet and hs consort, Lady Delors H. Prevost. Sr Chrstopher s the drect descendent of Gen. Augustn Prévost the Brtsh Commander of East Florda and Georga. 3

4 Research Wanted Steve Rauch holds pcture of Brtsh Gen. Augustn Prévost, old bullet head next to hs drect descendant, Sr Chrstopher Prévost, Bt. at the Savannah roundtable. We also made new frends wth Danel Fls-Amé, Sr. and Pradel Vlme, both of the Hatan Amercan Hstorcal Socety, who joned the roundtable dscussons to present the story of the alled Hatan troops who fought wth the Patrots and French at the September/October 1779 Sege of Savannah. Ther socety and the Cty of Savannah are workng to erect a memoral to the sacrfces of the Hatan troops n the Amercan Revoluton. [See related story on p. 25.] The Southern Campagns Roundtable wll meet agan at Farmers Hall on the old town square n Pendleton, SC at 10 am on December 9, On-lne Hstorc Lbrary Resource SCAR would lke to help John Robertson expand hs on-lne lstng of journal artcles, newspapers and hstorc magaznes that contan artcles or publcaton of letters, manuscrpts and dares of sgnfcance to the study of the Southern Campagns. We wll also need help n republshng these tems n the publc doman that are not already readly avalable on-lne. Use the Internet to brng the lbrary to us! Onlne Lbrary of the Southern Campagn of the Revolutonary War now fully searchable! Examples of ctes we need to comple and make readly accessble are artcles on relevant topcs and personaltes assocated wth the southern campagns of the Revolutonary War n publcatons such as Harpers Weekly; Hstorcal Magazne; The Southern Lterary Messenger; The Magazne of Amercan Hstory; numerous state and local hstorcal socety journals; Year Book, Cty of Charleston; numerous hstory professonal journals; and modern magaznes such as Mltary Hstoran and Collector; Muzzleloader; Mltary Affars; and Mltary Hstory Quarterly. Help Wanted SCAR also needs the servces of a graphc artst and someone to help wth magazne layout. We are also lookng for artcles, photos, maps, columnst, and feature edtors for future SCAR edtons. Volunteers are requested to contact SCAR edtor Charles B. Baxley. SCAR wants to publsh materals on the Battles of Long Cane, 2d Cedar Sprng (Thomson s Peach Orchard-Wofford s Ironworks- Clfton), Ramsour s Mll, Beaufort, SC, Parker s Ferry, Granby and Beatte s Mll. We are lookng for reports, penson statements, prvate letters, maps and plats, and archaeologcal fnds to explan the acton and put these battles on the ground. If you wll share nformaton you have gathered on these battles, ether prvately or are wllng to submt somethng for publcaton, t would be greatly apprecated. SCAR s workng wth hstorans who are researchng SC Patrot mlta Gen. Thomas Sumter s battles at Blackstock s Plantaton and Hangng Rock and Gen. Nathanael Greene s battles of Hobkrk Hll and Eutaw Sprngs. If you have any nformaton on these battles, please let SCAR know so we may share nformaton you have gathered. A story unshared may become a ste unspared. SCAR Cavalry Conference Plannng SCAR has begun plannng for a conference n 2007 on cavalry operatons n The Revoluton. Personaltes, tactcs and the uses of cavalry n specfc battles and campagns wll be revewed n depth. The tranng, accoutrementng, and support of cavalry on both sdes durng the Revoluton and the trats and capabltes of the cavalry horse are also great subjects for presentatons. Pulask, Tarleton, Baylor, Smcoe, Wllam Washngton, Lee, Frazer, Eggleston, Call, Thompson, Whte, and Coffn were colorful and skllful cavalry offcers n the Revoluton. The date and detals are stll under consderaton, but please let SCAR know your suggestons of topcs and presenters on cavalry operatons n The Revoluton. New Natonal Hertage Corrdor Law The Natonal Hertage Areas Act of 2006 establshed nne new Natonal Hertage Areas (NHA), ncludng two NHAs that nclude sgnfcant Revolutonary War battlefelds. The two new Revolutonary War related NHAs are the Champlan Valley Natonal Hertage Partnershp n Vermont and New York and the Crossroads of the Amercan Revoluton Natonal Hertage Area n New Jersey. The Natonal Hertage Areas Act also drects the Secretary of the Interor (Natonal Park Servce) to conduct studes of potental NHAs, ncludng a study regardng the sutablty and feasblty of desgnatng...a "Southern Campagn of the Revoluton Hertage Area" n South Carolna and North Carolna. SCAR s extremely pleased that the heart of the Southern Campagns wll be studed for possble ncluson n a Natonal Hertage Area as ths s the frst step n formaton of a federally recognzed and fundable hertage area. The Crossroads of the Amercan Revoluton Natonal Hertage Area wll provde $10 mllon n federal fundng over the next 15 years to preserve and promote Revolutonary War stes throughout New Jersey. or The new New Jersey NHA stretches across all or parts of 15 countes, from Fort Lee overlookng the Hudson Rver n Bergen County to the shore of the Delaware Rver at Red Bank Battlefeld n Gloucester County. It encompasses New Jersey State Parks at Monmouth Battlefeld, Washngton's Crossng of the Delaware Rver, and the Prnceton Battlefeld, and the Morrstown Natonal Hstorc Park, whch wll serve as a headquarters for preservaton and educatonal efforts. 4

5 Charles B. Baxley.. HEdtor-PublsherH Davd P. Reuwer Hgrammaran & plenpotentaryh Steven J. Rauch..... HcalendarH Jm Pecuch. Hbook revewsh Werner Wlls... artst Lanny W. Morgan.. HphotographerH John A. Robertson.. HcartographerH Davd McKssack..Hcontrbutng edtorh B. Carolne Baxley.. HwebmstressH Southern Campagns of the Amercan Revoluton s dedcated to the study of the War for Amercan Independence n the Southern Department from 1760 to We facltate the exchange of nformaton on the Southern Campagns Revolutonary War stes, ther preservaton, hstorc sgnage, nterpretaton, artfacts, and archaeology as well as the personaltes, mltary tactcs, unts, logstcs, and strategy, and the poltcal leadershp of the states. We hghlght professonals and amateurs actvely engaged n Revolutonary War research, preservaton and nterpretaton and encourage an actve exchange of nformaton. All are nvted to submt artcles, pctures, documents, events, and suggestons. Please help us obtan nformaton from the dusty archve fles, the archaeology departments, and knowledge base of local hstorans, property owners and artfact collectors. We feature battles and skrmshes, documents, maps, artfacts, Internet lnks, and other stores. We also facltate the dscovery, preservaton, nterpretaton, and promoton of hstorc stes on the ground. Southern Campagns of the Amercan Revoluton magazne s publshed by Woodward Corporaton. All edtons may be downloaded from the webste below or from John Robertson on CD. Color graphcs really enhance the magazne. We clam no copyrghts on reprnted artcles, photographs, maps and excerpts contaned n these materals. Copyrghts are reserved to the authors for artcles, maps, and mages created by others and to myself on other orgnal materals. We often edt old documents for easer readng and nsert comments as to names, alternatve dates, and modern punctuaton and spellng. We also from tme to tme forget to approprately reference our sources, to whom we offer our humblest apologes. Southern Campagns of the Amercan Revoluton s letter and emal publcaton polcy: the author must sgn all letters and emals and nclude a telephone number and return address for verfcaton. We reserve the rght to select those letters and emals that contrbute to the cause, and to edt them for clarty and length. Letters and emals publshed may not reflect the opnon of your edtor. Please submt all proposed artcles as a MS Word document Vrgna Lght Dragoon used n the magazne s banner s from an llustraton by Charles M. Lefferts ( ) now n the collectons of The New-York Hstorcal Socety. Later cavalry unforms were probably green or buff. Used by permsson of The New-York Hstorcal Socety. Please contact us at P. O. Box 10, Lugoff, South Carolna or Hcbbaxley@truvsta.netH or (803) (h) or (803) (w). Hwww.southerncampagn.orgH Update on the Washngton, DC - Gen. Francs Maron Park Project The US House of Representatves approved H.R. 5057, the Brgader General Francs Maron Memoral Act on July 24, The same proposed act s pendng before the Unted States Senate as bll S where t has been referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Commttee and s watng on a hearng. If the bll does not pass and s not sgned by Presdent Bush before the end of the Congressonal Sesson ths fall, the House Bll wll have to be rentroduced and we must start over. Project leader John McCabe of Columba, SC, s askng supporters to call or emal your US Senators and voce your support for Senate Bll 2822, The Brgader General Francs Maron Memoral Act. Senators Lndsey Graham (R-SC) and Jm DeMnt (R-SC) have pledged to do everythng possble to obtan a hearng n the Natonal Parks Subcommttee. The subcommttee scheduled a hearng on the bll, but the hearng was cancelled at the last mnute due to the charman s llness. Everyone's support s most gracously apprecated for soon the Swamp Fox wll be mmortalzed n our naton's captal. [John McCabe] Corps of Dscovery n Coastal Georga Corps of Dscovery group vews stes of Brtsh Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell s December 29, 1778 successful capture of Savannah. On October 8, 2006 the Corps of Dscovery and Georga SAR compatrots vewed the stes of the 1776 Battle of the Rce Boats just off of Hutchnson s Island n the Savannah Rver. We clmbed the ramparts at old Fort Jackson, named for Georga Revolutonary War hero Lt. Col. James Jackson, to vew the ste of the December 29, 1778 Brtsh nvason and the Patrots ntal defense from Grardeau s Plantaton at Brewton s Hll. We drove the route of the Brtsh approach to Savannah on the old Shell Road and vewed the 1778 Battle for Savannah ste. Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell s troops quckly defeated the Patrot skrmshers at Brewton Hll and marched overland to enter Savannah where the Patrots were watng. The December 1778 battle pushed the Patrot defenders through Savannah and nto the swamps north of the cty restorng the captol of Georga nto the Crown s hands. To keep Savannah, the Brtsh and Loyalsts steadly mproved the cty s fortfcatons that made t the fortfed cty by the tme of the September/October attacks by alled Amercan and French troops. We toured the locaton of Savannah s 1779 defenses and the mornng ended wth presentatons about the alled troops unsuccessful sege of Savannah at the ste of the fnal fatal charge 5

6 of Gen. Count Casmr Pulask near the newly recreated Sprng Hll redoubt; part of the fortfcatons of Savannah whch held off the alled troops layng sege to the cty. Coastal Hertage Socety for arrangng facltes for our roundtable, admssons to old Fort Jackson and hs rvetng presentaton on the fnal faled attack of the 1779 Sege of Savannah at the Sprng Hll Redoubt; and mltary hstoran Steven J. Rauch for helpng wth the handout materals and the tour commentary. Amercan Revoluton Center Musters Support by Danel Krste Coastal Hertage Socety s Executve Drector Scott Smth explans the faled Alled troops attack on the Sprng Hll Redoubt. At the Sprng Hll redoubt we heard a detaled explanaton of the October 9, 1779 acton gven by Coastal Hertage Socety s Executve Drector Scott Smth. George Carroll of hstorc Wse s Tavern n Alexandra, Vrgna presented a ffe and drum command demonstraton and reenactors presented an 18 th Century cannon and musket demonstraton. Danel Fls-Amé, Sr. and Pradel Vlme of the Hatan Amercan Hstorcal Socety joned the mornng tours n Savannah. They were anxous to see the 1779 battlefeld that ptted the French, Hatan and Patrot alled troops aganst the Brtsh and Loyalsts defenders of Savannah. Members of the Georga SAR, Sr Chrstopher Prevost, Bt. wth Lady Delors H. Prevost and the Corps of Dscovery also joned us. On Sunday afternoon we toured hstorc Mdway Congregatonal Church (sster to Dorchester, Ma. and Dorchester, SC) and Museum, vsted the Mdway, Spencer s Hll and Bulltown Swamp skrmsh stes. We fnshed an afternoon of battlefeldng wth a guded walk by Davd Swnton of the Fort Morrs Hstorc Ste on the scenc Medway Rver. Corps of Dscovery tour fnshes up at Fort Morrs, Sunbury, Georga. SCAR photo by Judy D. Baxley. Specal thanks to Davd Swnton, Presdent of the Frends of Fort Morrs for the nformatve tour of Fort Morrs; Scott Smth of the The Amercan Revoluton Center wll be bult at Valley Forge Natonal Hstorcal Park after all. At a town hall meetng, Valley Forge Park superntendent Mchael Caldwell updated resdents on the center's progress. Accordng to Caldwell, Congress has not approved constructon yet. That must come from the Appropratons Commttee and Caldwell s unsure when that wll happen. On July 3, 2006 Secretary of the Interor Dck Kempthorne wrote a letter to Congress supportng the project, a bg step forward. It showed that the Amercan Revoluton Center and the Natonal Park Servce were talkng agan. Last November, the nonproft n charge of buldng the center decded to break off ts partnershp wth Valley Forge Park and announced t was lookng for another ste for the center. A bg reason for that, sad Caldwell, was Valley Forge Park decded last August to shrnk the center from 90,000 to 50,000 square feet. Tom Daly, presdent and CEO of the Amercan Revoluton Center, refused to comment for ths artcle, but n a November 12, 2005 New York Tmes letter to the edtor he wrote, "Buldng the center n a way that would compromse the educatonal experence would be unconsconable. That s the reason for the partnershp's termnaton." Ths year, negotatons got back on track. Caldwell beleves that, once the New Year ht, the both partes decded to start focusng on the ssues agan. He also feels that the perspectve of Gerry Lenfest, the new charman of the Amercan Revoluton Center, helped. Pressure from legslators may also have pushed both partes to resume negotatons. Ths project has had much bpartsan support. Gov. Ed Rendell and Sen. Rck Santorum became especally vocal after negotatons were broken off. Caldwell sad there were many people n publc offce who were happy to see negotatons resume. One result of resumed negotatons was that Valley Forge Park agreed to gve the Amercan Revoluton Center the square footage t orgnally wanted. Another result was that the fundng estmate for the center ncreased to $150 mllon. The orgnal estmate was $100 mllon, but a fund-rasng feasblty study conducted by the Natonal Park Servce determned that the center's endowment, orgnally calculated at $10 mllon, ought to be larger. Caldwell beleves that ths ncrease was one postve result of the negotatons. Also, all of the fundng for the center must now come from prvate sources. Valley Forge Park wll reserve all government funds for tself. Caldwell estmates that the Amercan Revoluton Center wll be complete wthn fve years. In a July 6, 2006 artcle, Lenfest sad that no work wll be done on the center untl the entre $150 mllon s rased. Robert A.M. Stern Archtects came up wth the blueprnts for the center. It wll be bult nto the sde of a quarry wall near the man parkng lot. The center wll contan exhbt space that wll house the Amercan Revoluton Center's collecton of Revolutonary War-era artfacts. The collecton was begun n The center wll also contan an audtorum, retal and food-servce establshments, an outdoor terrace, and a resource center for scholars and educators. The Amercan Revoluton Center wll be the frst museum dedcated exclusvely to the Amercan Revoluton. 6

7 226th Annversary Ceremony of the Battle at Kngs Mountan Photo essay by Bob Yankle Chldren of the Amercan Revoluton present wreath at the 226 th annversary celebratons at Kngs Mountan. Photo by Stewart Dunaway. On an overcast, somewhat cool day, members of a number of Patrotc organzatons gathered together on "The Mountan" to commemorate the battle that turned the tde of the Revolutonary War n the South. After the Patrots btter defeats at Camden and Fshng Creek, and ther vctory at Musgrove Mll n August 1780, the Patrots desperately needed a vctory to revtalze ther fghtng sprt and to resolve the Whg/Patrot vs. Tory/Loyalst fght ragng n the South Carolna backcountry. It was delvered to them on October 7, 2006 at Kngs Mountan, SC. Maj. Patrck Ferguson s Loyalst troops were soundly defeated by the growng coalton of southern Patrot mltas. As the pctures n the on-lne gallery attest, a grateful naton wll long remember ther deeds through the efforts of the DAR, CAR, SAR, Sons of the Revoluton, Colonal Dames of the XVII Century, the NC Socety of the Order of Founders and Patrots, and the Georga 30 Socety. Organzed by the Marqus de LaFayette Chapter, NCSSAR, the ceremony held on October 7th, 2006 well and fathfully upheld the tradton of patrotc prde n the foundng of our naton. Vew the exctng photo gallery at: The Southern Revolutonary War Insttute Call for Papers - Second Bennal Southern Revolutonary War Symposum The Begnnng of the End: The Campagns of n the Southern Colones The Southern Revolutonary War Insttute s pleased to announce that t wll host the Second Bennal Southern Revolutonary War Symposum at the McCelvey Center n York, South Carolna on Frday, July 13, The McCelvey Center 212 East Jefferson Street s home to the Southern Revolutonary War Insttute, a research center dedcated to the study of the Amercan Revoluton n the Southern colones. The 2007 symposum wll focus on the mportant but often overlooked years of 1775 and 1776, the begnnng of the end of Brtsh rule n the Southern colones of Vrgna, North Carolna, South Carolna, and Georga. Crtcal poltcal events ncluded the dssoluton and expulson of the royal governments of the Southern colones, the formaton of the frst ndependent provncal governments, the dvson of loyaltes among the populace, the moblzaton of state troops and mlta, North Carolna s Mecklenburg Resolves, and Wllam Henry Drayton s expedton to the South Carolna backcountry. Sgnfcant mltary engagements n 1775 ncluded the frst sege of Fort Nnety Sx, SC; the Patrots success at the Battle of Great Brdge, Vrgna and the Battle of Great Canebrake or Reedy Rver, SC, and the Snow Campagn. The year 1776 wtnessed the Patrots vctory at the Battle of Moore s Creek Brdge, NC; the faled Brtsh attack on Charleston, SC at the Battles of Fort Sullvan and Breach Inlet; and the epc Cherokee Campagn that launched the mlta of both Carolnas, Georga and Vrgna nto a total war aganst the pro- Brtsh Cherokee Naton. The Insttute especally encourages studes of the nvolvement of Natve Amercans, Afrcan Amercans, and women n ths early phase of the Revoluton; areas of nterest nclude the effects of Vrgna Governor Lord Dunmore s efforts to grant freedom to the slaves of rebel slave owners n exchange for the slaves servce to the Crown; the Indan wars along the fronters of Georga, the Carolnas and Vrgna; the partcpaton of the Catawba Indans n the Battle of Sullvan s Island and the Cherokee Campagn; and the nvolvement of women n poltcal events lke the Edenton Tea Party. The Insttute nvtes proposals for papers and sessons for the symposum. To submt a proposal, please send by January 1, 2007 a 300-word abstract wth a cover letter ndcatng your name, postal and e-mal addresses, nsttutonal afflaton (f any), equpment needs, and a short bographcal summary, to: Mchael Scoggns - Drector, Southern Revolutonary War Insttute 212 East Jefferson Street, York, SC Address any nqures Mchael Scoggns at mcscoggns@chmuseums.org or the above address. Notce of acceptance wll be made no later than January 30, 2007, at whch tme presenters wll also receve nformaton on hotels and local accommodatons. Papers should be pages, Chcago Manual of Style, wth footnotes and bblography. Full text of the paper must be delvered by May 30, A copy n word processor format s also requested for future publcaton of the proceedngs. Presentatons wll be lmted to 20 mnutes per person wth 10 mnutes for dscusson; tme lmts wll be strctly enforced. Papers wll be grouped nto sessons based on themes wth a moderator for each sesson. 7

8 Carbbean Rev War Database Launched The real stakes n the Revolutonary War after Saratoga were no longer the 13 rebellng colones but shfted to the West Indes where major tradng natons of Europe dd fully one-thrd of ther foregn commerce. Much real estate changed hands there durng the war. Some captured Contnentals agreed to serve here as Brtsh solders to escape the hell of prson hulks. Ths s a part of the war wth whch many of us have lttle famlarty. A new onlne geographcal database has been launched for the study and vcarous exploraton of sgnfcant Revolutonary War stes that fall on a map of the Carbbean. The ntent s to marry terse hstory wth geographcal coordnates, and to document the process. Your collaboraton s nvted. See Gazetteer of Carbbean n Revolutonary War SCAR Carbbean Symposum SCAR has started work on a cruse shp based symposum on the Revolutonary War n the Carbbean Ocean for We know that the war became more global as alles entered the fray aganst the Brtsh and the przed Brtsh colones n the Carbbean were seen as up for the takng, those valuable sugar=molasses=rum slands. Take a look at John Robertson s Carbbean database and see the number of battles n the area that I call the southern southern campagn. We are takng suggestons of relevant battlefelds and museums that are must see. Stay tuned for more nformaton. Launch Planned for: Global Gazetteer of the Amercan Revoluton by John A. Robertson For nearly 7 years, I have worked at locatng most of the Revolutonary War battle/skrmsh/sgnfcant stes worldwde. My earlest efforts were geographc only, wth no effort to marry the stes wth the hstory, and wth lttle effort to document a ste or to estmate ts level of confdence. At one pont, I even prepared a CD verson that I planned to market contanng coordnates but nothng related to the hstory of the ste. The only extant copes lve on my computers and are used wth some frequency. My recent efforts have re-examned each ste, provded a number of references and state the confdence level of the estmate. My experence s that when collaborators are nvolved n the process, even f I do most of the work nvolved, the results are better than when I work alone. My frends have advsed me to publsh my work, reap any fnancal beneft forthcomng from t, n order to receve just credt for long effort and for my contrbuton to the study of the Revoluton. I apprecate ther concern. It s my belef that f I were to do so, t would have the effect of freezng the project at ts current level of completon. It s more mportant to me to see such a gazetteer develop to ts full potental durng my lfetme. If I am remembered as the one who saw the possblty for such and f I lve to see t develop nto a reasonable state of completon, that wll be reward enough. I plan n the very near future to convert the present Carbbean Gazetteer to a Global Gazetteer of the Amercan Revoluton. There wll be a separate secton for each letter of the alphabet, wth entres n each arranged alphabetcally. The format of the World Gazetteer wll be the same as that used for the Carbbean Gazetteer and there wll be an ndvdual documentaton page for each locaton. As tme s avalable, I wll fll out each letter page wth smple name entres for the locatons known to exst. Lttle f any data wll be provded for those stes for whch a documentary page has yet to be created and coordnates, f provded, wll be less precse. I have learned from experence that when the hstory s marred to the geography, the stes of nterest change and multply. I have not yet decded whether or not to nclude the Graves of Notables n the same database, but I am nclned to do so. I personally fnd that t adds a long-term perspectve to the war that I fnd very satsfyng. If you would lke to see an entry added or an exstng entry developed fully, you can vote for such wth sweat equty. The most tme-consumng part of developng each entry s that of fndng references (onlne or prnted) that substantate a terse hstorcal statement of all sgnfcant events occurrng at that locaton and whch support the selected locaton of the ste. Your contrbuton n that effort wll accelerate your ste of nterest beng fully developed. The alternatve s watng untl such tme as I can do all the grunt work myself. The ste wll be copyrghted. The usual laws for ts use wll apply. There wll be provded the text to sutably credt ths onlne gazetteer as your source of nformaton. Indvdual use of ste entres and those of a modest number would requre only the sutable ctaton of ther source. If a substantal number of stes were nvolved, or f an entre work were developed based on ths gazetteer, specfc permsson would be requred. The requrement of such permsson would lkely requre a grats copy of the resultant publcaton, but each stuaton would be consdered ndvdually. An extreme case would be the ncorporaton of the entre database nto a dervatve work n whch a fnancal agreement would lkely be requred. The prncpal dea behnd ths onlne publcly-avalable gazetteer s to allow and to encourage nterested persons worldwde to provde suggestons that would mprove upon the accuracy of the nformaton provded for any ste. Also ths wll buld a stespecfc ready reference to documentary hstores ncludng maps, penson statements, hstorc texts, and manuscrpts. When the Global Gazetteer of the Amercan Revoluton becomes publcly avalable, t wll appear n the menu lne at the top of all pages at replacng the present lnk for Gazetteer of Carbbean n Revolutonary War. At some pont t may be gven ts own doman name. For any who mght be concerned about ths effort endangerng unprotected stes, frst, let me thank you for your unfounded belef that I am that good, workng n my basement n Shelby, NC. One of the more actve archaeologsts n the Carolnas has told me that he sees no problem n such work when t s based on hstorcal research. In the very few cases where amateur archaeologst nformaton s avalable and used, t wll be dsplayed n a fashon that obscures ths source. It s my belef that ths database wll serve to prepare those concerned to partcpate n any publc hearngs concernng any proposed development on these stes. I have vsted many of these stes and the cty fathers destroyed wth bulldozers the only ones that I have found destroyed. They knew full well that whch they were destroyng as s was demolshed. New On-lne Revolutonary Grave Locator SCAR cartographer John Robertson and others have started an onlne catalogue and data exchange on the locaton of Revolutonary 8

9 War leaders graves. If you wsh to help locate the fnal restng places of 18 th century Patrots and Loyalsts whose names appear n hstory books, and share that data, please contact John Robertson. Please vst the database at - Graves of Notables n the Southern Campagn of the Revolutonary War. Hopefully we wll fnd all Revolutonary War solders graves sutable marked, protected, tended, and respected. Many wll requre research. The DAR and SAR both have actve grave dentfcaton and markng programs for Patrots graves and many local chapters have lovngly adopted these graves. Here s the eptaph on two amazng heroes tombs that are located n the Sumter Natonal Forest n Unon County, SC. Maj. Joseph McJunkn s Eptaph Erected To the memory of Major Joseph McJunkn Born June 22nd, 1755 Ded May 31st, 1846 He commanded the servces of hs country n the war for ts ndependence as a prvate solder, never ceased from that servce tll the war closed, when he held a major's commsson. He was a useful and uprght ctzen through the perod of manhood, promoted dlgently the best nterests of socety, He was a rulng elder of the Presbyteran Church for a perod of 60 years. Major But mark the man of holy fear, How blest s hs decease! He spends hs days n duty here And leaves the world n peace. I shall be near and wth my God. And flesh and sn no more control, The sacred pleasures of the soul. My flesh shall slumber n the ground, Tll the last trumpet's joyful sound; Then burst the chans wth sweet surprse, And n my Savors' mage rse. Suppled to SCAR by Carole Grant and Phlp Feldman. Eutaw Sprngs Conference Presenters Author Robert M. Bert Dunkerly, Kngs Mountan. Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Ann McJunkn The wfe of Major McJunkn and the daughter of Col. John Thomas who departed ths lfe March 17th 1826 aged 69 years. The deceased was an ntrepd herone of the ~ revoluton, who wth the ad of her mother, brother, and brother-n-law defended her father's house wth success aganst the attack of 300 Tores.* Lord, I am thne, but thou wlt prove My fath, my patence, and my love. When men of spte aganst me jon They are the sword, the hand s thne. Ther hope and porton le below. Ts all the happness they know. Ts all they seek, they take ther shares, And leave the rest among ther hers. What snners value, I resgn. Lord, ths enough that thou art mne. I shall behold thy blssful face, And stand complete n rghteousness. Ths lfe's a dream, an empty show; But the brght world to whch I go, Hath joys substantal and sncere; When shall I wake and fnd me there? 0 glorous hour; 0 blest abode; Novelst Charles F. Prce of Burnsvlle, NC. Hstoran Dr. Jm Pecuch, Kennesaw State Unversty. 9

10 Dggng for Informaton Southern Campagns Archaeology Projects SCAR needs sources to report on Revolutonary War archaeology projects n other Southern Campagns states; more mlta s needed for ntellgence. New and follow-on archaeology projects at several nterestng South Carolna Revolutonary War stes are underway. Buford s Battlefeld (Waxhaws) SCAR Emergency Response Lancaster County s constructng a recreatonal faclty just south of the monument area of the ste of the Battle of the Waxhaws. John Allson led a team to examne the ste for Revolutonary War era battlefeld artfacts. One old halter buckle was recovered, but nothng more defntve of the battle was located. SCAR beleves that Scott Butler of Brockngton and Assocates, archaeologsts of Norcross, Georga conducted a survey of the graded area pror to the gradng and also dd not fnd any evdence of the battle except for an area thought to possbly be a second mass grave whch was not dsturbed by ths project. SCAR photo. Unfortunately, Lancaster County, the SCIAA, the SC DOT, or SCAR does not really know the precse locaton of Buford s Massacre. Butler s SC DOT survey dd locate some mltary artfacts about 2,000 feet northeast of the new recreatonal park, ther scatter dd not prove ths mportant battlefeld. Butler s cultural resources survey of a porton of the Battle of the Waxhaws (Buford s Massacre) ste near the ntersecton of SC Hghways 9 and 522 n Lancaster County, SC located a wde Revolutonary War era musket ball scatter to the north and east of the monument ste, ndcatve of the battle. Ths ntal survey shows the perod mltary artfact scatter over a wde area and that the Natonal Regster of Hstorc Propertes boundares need to be enlarged and redefned. Snce the SC DOT s makng roadway mprovements on ths battlefeld, hopefully, the mtgaton plan wll fund addtonal archaeologcal research to fully delneate the battlefeld, locate and mark the mass graves, recover artfacts before they are paved over, and place nterpretatve sgnage. If you have Battle of Waxhaws artfacts n your collecton, please contact SCAR about sharng your data. The South Carolna Insttute of Archaeology and Anthropology s (SCIAA) mltary archaeology team of Steve Smth and Jm Legg have fnshed some quck and drty feldwork for the Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton and the State of South Carolna Parks, Recreaton and Toursm at SC Patrot mlta Gen. Thomas Sumter s November 20, 1780 Blackstock s Plantaton vctory over Brtsh Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton on the Tyger Rver. The ntal survey recovered a wde scatter of 18 th century mltary artfacts and 18 th century nals from the plantaton s buldngs descrbed n the battle accounts coverng a large area around the DAR monument. Smth and Legg s archaeologcal survey of Contnental Lt. Col. John Laurens May 4, 1779 Coosawhatche battlefeld and SC Patrot mlta Col. Wllam Harden s capture of Fort Balfour from ts Loyalsts garrson at Pocotalgo, SC on Aprl 13, 1781 s avalable on-lne at arep.pdf. Smth and Legg are also workng on an ntal archaeologcal survey of the mportant backcountry revolt that occurred on July 12, 1780 at the Battle of Wllamson s Plantaton Huck s Defeat battlefeld n York County, SC. Luckly, the majorty of ths ste was obtaned for preservaton by York County n conjuncton wth Hstorc Brattonsvlle. Ther research thus far confrms the presence of Revolutonary War perod mltary artfacts north and east of the Hstorc Brattonsvlle vstors center, but many fnds have been artfacts from modern reenactments. Hopefully, the archaeologsts can return to Brattonsvlle to further defne ths mportant battlefeld and the York County Cultural and Hertage Commsson wll nterpret ths battle on the actual battlegrounds. If you have any relcs from or knowledge about the Huck s Defeat ste, please contact ether York County hstoran Mke Scoggns or project archaeologst Steve Smth. Smth and Legg are also conductng some feldwork to delneate the Musgrove Mll battlefeld. The State of South Carolna owns property on the east sde of the Enoree Rver thought by many to be the actual battlefeld. The state hstorc ste clearly owns the old Edward Musgrove home, mll and ford stes, and purchased an elaborate battlefeld model showng the battlefeld just to the east, across the Enoree Rver. The locaton of the actual Musgrove Mll battlefeld s subject to some debate untl archaeology can confrm the ste. SCAR s excted to add archeologcal evdence to ad n the preservaton and accurate nterpretaton of ths mportant Patrot vctory durng the lowest ebb of the Southern Campagns. Prelmnary results have faled to fnd the level of 18 th century mltary artfacts on the state s battlefeld property; ths s a prelmnary ndcaton that the locaton of the battle s not as beleved. Snce the State of South Carolna has chosen Musgrove Mll as the locus to tell the story of the Georga and Carolnas backcountry n the Revoluton, hopefully, the SC PRT wll fund further survey work to locate, delneate and nterpret ths mportant battleground. Addtonal lands may need to be purchased to protect the ste s vew shed and actual battlefeld. If you have any relcs from or knowledge about the Musgrove Mll battlefeld ste, please contact ether hstorc ste manager Frank Stovall or archaeologst Steve Smth. Smth and Legg are back n the feld workng on ther thrd dg at the Battle of Camden ste wth some hghly sklled volunteers dong an extensve metal detecton survey n specfc areas, some ground penetratng radar studes, and agan ntervewng collectors to dentfy and catalog old fnds on the master GIS system of battlefeld artfacts. The ntal analyss of ground penetratng radar (GPR) returns ndcates that the battlefeld s sandy sols are not conductve to GPR studes. A project goal of locatng the mass graves on the battlefeld contnues to elude the researchers. If you have Battle of Camden artfacts n your collecton, please contact 10

11 archaeologst Steve Smth or SCAR about sharng your data. Smth, Legg and Tamara Wlson s detaled report on the frst two Battle of Camden archaeologcal surveys, called Understandng Camden, s avalable for sale for $20.00 from the Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton. ( Smth and Legg are conductng a major Gen. Francs Maron ste survey contract for the Francs Maron Tral Commsson. At the Port s Ferry Maron campste on the Pee Dee Rver, Smth dscovered several artfacts datng to the late 18th century, ncludng a sde plate from a Brtsh Brown Bess musket, buttons, a colonal perod horseshoe and a buckle. I ve been to three locatons n the Port s Ferry area where we found evdence that mght be possble locatons of Francs Maron camp stes, Smth sad durng an ntervew deep n the woods. Port s Ferry was an mportant strategc pont along the Pee Dee that Maron crossed several tmes. It s also where he camped durng the early part of hs partsan career, generally between August of 1780 and January and February of Smth s searchng to prove stes selected for dentfcaton of Maron s mltary operatons: Black Mngo Creek/Dollard s Blue House Tavern; Wadboo Barony (boats captured and burned, Colleton manson, fnal camp and Battle of the Avenue of the Cedars); Farlawn Barony (Stony Pont landng, extant redoubt Fort Farlawn and Brtsh camp, Colleton Castle and hosptal burned); Battle of Parker s Ferry; Battle of Tydman s Plantaton/Wambaw Brdge; Georgetown defenses and rad stes; Port s Ferry (redoubt) camps; Battle of Qunby Brdge/Shubrck s Plantaton; Brch s Mll; Snow Island/Tanyard camps and rad; Battle of Blue Savannah; the route of Lt. Col. Tarleton s chase of Gen. Maron to Ox Swamp; Battle of Halfway Swamp to Sngleton s Mll; Thomas Sumter s Plantaton (at Great Savannah); ste of the reconventon of South Carolna s General Assembly at Jacksonboro on the Edsto (Pon Pon) Rver; Wtherspoon s Ferry on the Pee Dee Rver; and route of Col. Watson s chase of Gen. Maron n the battle of the brdges. These Maron stes together wth hs postons n the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs; the seges of Fort Watson and Fort Motte; Maron s brthplace on the Cooper Rver; the Tradd Street house n Charleston; Maron s tomb at hs brother s Belle Isle Plantaton on the Santee Rver; Pond Bluff Plantaton, hs fnal home, now under Lake Maron are major Maron stes avalable for a tour. The Hobkrk s Hll battlefeld archaeology project (ARCHH, Inc.) has completed ts metal detecton survey of the fourth property located south of Greene Street and west of Broad Street on the southern face of Hobkrk Hll. ARCHH researchers found one oval brass plate, lead flled, wth a hasp, very old, possbly a cross strap plate; however prelmnary archaeologcal dentfcaton by Tarq Ghaffar ndcates that he beleves that the brass pece s a brdal rosette, common on horse tack up to about We are classfyng t as an M (maybe related to the battle) n the artfact catalogue. It could just as easly have come from a lady out for an afternoon rde n 1800, as from Amercan or Brtsh cavalry. Also the team found one melted pece of lead and second pece of msshapen lead. They also recovered 11 post 1959 cons to go wth 3 cons the team found n late summer along wth some other yardfacts, but nothng of mport. The team speculates that they may be too far north of where acton may have occurred; however ths yard s n an area of heavy resdental development and landscapng. ARCHH Feld Drector John Allson s confdent that wth the cons and yardfacts recovered they would fnd anythng else relevant f t s there. The ARCHH team plans to be back on the hll the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgvng. If you are nterested n volunteerng to work wth the Hobkrk Hll archaeology research project, please contact SCAR. If you have Battle of Hobkrk s Hll artfacts n your collecton, please contact SCAR about sharng your data. (see The Unversty of Georga Lamar Insttute, lead by archaeologst Danel T. Ellott, has publshed ther mpressve archaeologcal survey of Ebenezer, Georga, ste of numerous Brtsh camps on the Savannah Rver s posted n a santzed verson on-lne at 73.pdf. Southern Research, Hstorcal Preservaton Consultants, Inc, lead by archaeologst Danel T. Ellott, has publshed ther comprehensve archaeologcal survey of Fort Morrs, Georga, ste of the Patrot battery on the Medway Rver s posted on-lne at rs_archaeologcal_investgaton.pdf#search=%22fort%20mo rrs%20georga%22 DAR - SAR SC 72 Brdge Dedcaton & Tour Scott Butler has completed a prelmnary cultural resources study of the hstorc ste of Bacon s Brdge over the upper Ashley Rver n Dorchester County, SC. There s an extant earthwork mound, possbly of the Revolutonary War era where several 18 th century mltary and cvlan artfacts were recovered. To mtgate any adverse mpacts of ths Revolutonary War era campste, the SC DOT wll move the new brdge mprovements to the north (upstream) away from the possble 18 th century mound. Pursuant to hs contract wth PCF, Butler has submtted hs ntal archaeologcal survey plan to the Natonal Parks Servces (ABPP) to do phase two reconnassance at Gen. Nathanael Greene s Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld n Orangeburg County, SC. Ths feldwork, scheduled for January 2007, s desgned to further delneate the boundares of the battleground buldng on the ntal battlefeld survey work by Davd P. Reuwer and Butler n The Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton s Mltary Hertage Program (Gen. George Felds and Nancy Stone-Collum) held ther ntal communty meetng on November 14, 2006 n Eutawvlle, SC, plannng for preservaton of ths mportant natonal hertage ste. If you have Battle of Eutaw Sprngs artfacts n your collecton, please contact SCAR about sharng your data. Servces for a brdge dedcaton to the Patrot Lttle Rver Regment at the hstorc Lberty Sprngs Presbyteran Church n Cross Hll, SC. 11

12 SCAR attended the 4 th annual Cambrdge Chapter SAR program at Lberty Sprngs Presbyteran Church (1787) at Cross Hll, South Carolna also called the Brdge Dedcaton and Consttuton Day - on a beautful September 16, Ths red brck façade wth substantal steeple replaced the earler chapels bult on the same ste by the Presbyterans, many descendants of the Lberty boys of ths area of Greenwood County, South Carolna, often referred to as a company of the Lttle Rver Regment. The ceremony at the church was to memoralze the dedcaton of a brdge of South Carolna Hghway 72 over the Lttle Rver n honor of the Patrots who formed the Lttle Rver Regment n the Amercan Revoluton. Legslatve delegaton ncludng State Representatve Mke Ptts and Senator Danny Verdn were on hand who made motvatng speeches about the mportance of ths part of local hertage. SC Hghway Commssoner Maron Carnell was also present and sponsored the moton through the South Carolna Department of Transportaton s Commsson to have the brdge named and sgns placed. The servce ncluded tradtonal prayers, patrotc songs, and a presentaton of wreaths by Cambrdge Chapter SAR, South Carolna Socety of the Sons of Amercan Revoluton and the Henry Laurens Chapter of the DAR. After the ceremony, Joe Goldsmth lead a caravan of approxmately twenty (20) ndvduals on a tour of Revolutonary War stes ncludng the Nnety Sx Natonal Hstorc Ste and the ste of Gen. Andrew Wllamson s Whtehall Plantaton, a muster and rendezvous ste for many actons ncludng the Snow Campagn. Merle Mac McGee s Estate makes a donaton of major RW book collecton and loan of artfacts to Nnety Sx: A Tangble Pece of the Past by Davd Morgan It s a drect lnk to the past, sad Erc Wllams, Chef Ranger on the Nnety Sx Natonal Hstorc Ste s latest acquston. The U.S. Natonal Park recently receved a donaton of books and a loan of 18 th century artfacts. These came from the estate of collector and park volunteer Merle A. Mac McGee of Greenvlle. McGee passed away n January. Wllams sad the book donaton conssts of about 230 volumes, many dealng wth some aspect of the Amercan Revoluton. One of the most nterestng books n the McGee collecton s Hstory Wrtten Wth Pck and Shovel, by Bolton and Calver. Durng the 1920s and 1930s, these authors dd extensve research on Amercan and Brtsh unform buttons of the Revolutonary War. The McGee artfacts number several hundred tems found over a perod of years at South Carolna Revolutonary War stes and battlefelds. Wllams sad McGee found some of the artfacts at the Nnety Sx ste before t became a Natonal Park n As a result, McGee was allowed to keep the hstorc relcs. The artfacts n the McGee collecton nclude a musket and musket parts, rfle balls, mltary and cvlan buttons, buckles, and lead pencls, whch were hammed from a musket ball. Ths s what remans of hs collecton, Wllams sad. One promnent tem, now on dsplay n the vstor center museum, s a Dutch musket from 1777, whch McGee purchased. Wllams sad these muskets were manufactured n the Netherlands for Patrot use n Amerca. The muskets were shpped to the colones by way of France. Another nterestng tem s paper money dated 1778 and ssued by South Carolna for 7 shllngs, 6 pence. The bll bears the sgnature of Charles Pnckney ( ). Musket and cannon muntons, buckles, blades, and Jew s harps from the McGee collecton on dsplay at Nnety Sx. SCAR photo. (McGee) really had a specal love and fascnaton for Nnety Sx and ts hstory, Wllams sad. McGee s famly wanted to honor hs request by loanng the remander of hs artfact collecton to be dsplayed at the Hstorc Ste. All of the artfacts n McGee s collecton are too numerous to dsplay at one tme and wll be changed out perodcally for dsplay n the museum, Wllams sad. When vstors see an object from 225 years ago, Wllams sad t gves them a tangble pece of the past to relate to. The books from McGee s estate wll be catalogued and placed n the park s reference lbrary, where they wll be used by park staff and volunteers. The park plans to purchase a lockng securty cabnet to store the most rare books, Wllams sad. The Nnety Sx Natonal Hstorc Ste s open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week on S.C. 248, two mles south of the Town of Nnety Sx. The 989-acre park has a pcnc area and more than three mles of walkng trals. For nformaton, call or vst the park s Web ste at Artcle courtesy of Davd Morgan, The Star & Beacon and the Nnety Sx Publshng Co., Inc. All rghts reserved. New Documentary Televsed on the Battle of Camden Produced and edted by Bruce Mayer ofcamden/ndex.html Watch a clp South Carolna ETV kcked-off ts second season of the awardwnnng seres Carolna Stores wth the Battle of Camden. The premer ared on SC ETV opposte the USC - Auburn game on September 28, SCAR Edtor/Publsher Charles B. Baxley, Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton s mltary hertage program chef, Dr. George Felds, and SCIAA archaeologst Steven Smth are featured n the documentary along wth Bruce Mayer. The hour-long documentary examned one of the most demoralzng and bloody defeats suffered by the Amercans durng the Revolutonary War. Paradoxcally, t was ths mportant battle that many South Carolna hstorans also consder to be the war s turnng pont. A lot happened because of the Battle of Camden, sad ETV Producer Bruce Mayer. Most of the mltamen never fred a shot before they took off and ran. It taught us that you cannot take untraned troops and put them up aganst a well-traned army. It also nspred Kng George III to wrte a proclamaton 12

13 sayng that f you dd not fght wth the Brtsh, you would de. That plan really backfred and only served to rle people up. Scenes from Hstorc Camden, the 255 th annversary reenactment at daybreak on the actual battlefeld and hstorc documents gve vsual nterest to the flm. From new guerlla tactcs employed by Amercan mlta to the actons of an over-confdent Kng, the tragc events that transpred on August 16, 1780 became the catalyst that led to the brth of a naton. However, Mayer beleves that the battle s mportance has been largely overlooked. For some reason, t never receved much attenton, he sad. Ths s bad n one respect, because not many people know about t; but there have also been benefts because the feld tself has remaned so prstne. Mayer hopes that ths program wll only add to the renewed nterest n the hstorc ste located sx mles north of Camden, as recent efforts have been made to preserve the feld and turn t nto a natonal or state park. An admtted hstory buff, he sad he became captvated by the Battle of Camden durng a vst to the ste many years ago, when he dscovered hs frst musket ball. I realzed that ths really happened, there were real people here, and I was holdng a musket ball that was fred on that day, Mayer sad. Copes of the documentary on VHS tape or DVD may be purchased from the SC ETV store. ge=2 The Battle of Camden: A Documentary Hstory by Jm Pecuch Author and hstoran Jm Pecuch offers a comprehensve consderaton of ths vtal Revolutonary battle and ts effects on the war for Amercan ndependence. Ths engagng new book presents the Battle of Camden as never before: through the eyes and words of Amercan and Brtsh partcpants and wtnesses to the conflct. The story of the Battle of Camden, the largest open-feld contest n the South and one of the most mportant battles of the Revolutonary War, s at last fully told n The Battle of Camden: A Documentary Hstory. Rather than smply relate the general narratve of events, the author sets the scene and then allows the partcpants to speak. Readers learn the strateges of the opposng commanders, Horato Gates and Lord Cornwalls, n the generals own words; hear ther subordnates ncludng Otho Holland Wllams and Lord Rawdon descrbe ther own roles n the campagn and battle; whle ordnary solders relate ther experences on the fatal day of August 16, To demonstrate the mportance of the battle, the book ncludes contemporary observatons from a varety of sources. George Washngton, Thomas Jefferson, Nathanael Greene, and John Adams express ther concerns, General Henry Clnton and Lord George German exult n the Brtsh vctory, and loyalsts and some Amercans rdcule Gates. The wde varety of orgnal materal ncluded n The Battle of Camden makes t an excellent reference work as well as an nformatve book on the battle. Pecuch, PhD n hstory from Wllam & Mary, s the book revew edtor of SCAR and serves as professor of early Amercan and Revolutonary War hstory at Kennesaw State Unversty n Georga. Hs next book s a Battlefeld Gude to Eutaw Sprngs, wrtten wth SCAR edtor, Davd P. Reuwer. The author has generously agreed to donate one-half of hs royaltes from the book to help fund the preservaton and nterpretaton of the Camden battlefeld. The book s avalable from The Hstory Press, 18 Percy Street, Charleston, SC 29403, and n bookstores. Anyone wantng a sgned copy can contact the author, Jm Pecuch, at Kngsranger@aol.com. ISBN $ over 30 color photos n 160 pp. Letters to Edtor Thank you, Charles: I found the followng ctaton n the Roster of South Carolna Patrots n the Amercan Revoluton, page 92. (at Ancestry.com) "Bozeman, Ralph R-1116 b. 1760, Bladen County, NC Whle resdng n Wllamsburg County, he enlsted durng May 1777 under Gen. Maron, Col. John Lanford Dart, Maj. Benjamn Snpes and Capt. McCall. He was n the battles at Dorchester, Monck's Corner, Black Mngo, Gen. Pckens' Lane, Mars Bluff, Camden and Eutaw Sprngs. (Moved to Georga and Florda.)" Is there any other record of the above-lsted Major Benjamn Snpes? Ths s the only ctaton where I have seen ths name mentoned. Howdy, Bll Snpes sfa344@juno.com After readng Steven Rauch's artcle on the 2nd sege of Augusta, I need to wrte n to make a correcton. In hs artcle he wrote that the North Carolna Contnentals commanded by Eaton were made up of the mlta that had ran at Gulford. You do these men a great dsservce. Hstorans n the past have also made ths mstake, however these men were the newly formed 1st North Carolna Regment. The 1 st North Carolna Regment was made up of 12- month Contnentals from the Halfax Dstrct. Some hstorans have mstakenly wrtten that these men were the mlta who had fled the feld at Gulford Courthouse, and then had to serve n the Contnentals for 12 months, but those men are not the unt under Eaton. These were the same four North Carolna Contnental companes who fought at Gulford, and were sent to serve as the cadre of Eaton's detachment. So, where were the mlta who had fled durng Gulford? They were under ntensve tranng up n Halfax throughout the summer of They would become the North Carolna brgade at Eutaw Sprngs. That brgade was both new enlstees and the mlta drafted for 12 months as punshment for runnng away at Gulford Courthouse. They were combned nto three regments and drlled and traned ntensvely durng early summer It was also Captan Samuel Fnley who commanded the 6 pounder, not Ebenezer Fnley. Patrck J. O Kelley, Lllngton, NC 13

14 Charles, I apprecate Patrck s comments that ndcate he read my artcle, but I would refer hm to read closely my sources n the footnotes to the Order of Battle. I stand by my research unless he can provde the exact sources for hs nformaton, whch I would lke to see. I do not beleve I dd the North Carolna Contnentals a dsservce. I sad they performed very well n the campagn, except for the 41 who deserted Eaton when he began the operaton. Accordng to the Greene papers, the partcpants themselves sad: General John Butler s letter to Greene, 11 Aprl 1781: Maj Eaton wll march tomorrow wth 200 men who have been ordered to serve for a year because they fled durng the battle of Gulford Court House. Eaton to Sumner, 17 Aprl 1781: hs troops desert fast and complan heavly of the njustce done them, havng never had a Tryall as they many of them declare. Eaton to Greene, 17 Aprl 1781: On hs way wth 140 Men from Halfax who have been turned nto the Contnental servce for twelve months. So from that, I thnk one can reasonably conclude that Eaton knew who the men were that he commanded. Apart from that assessment however, there s no ndcaton that they dd not exhbt exemplary conduct durng the subsequent operatons. They knew how to fght, but needed leadershp such as Eaton s to do so effectvely. Regardng Capt. Fnley s frst name, my sources for the Order of Battle cte a muster roll ttled Muster Roll of Capt Rch d Dorsey s and late Gale s Companes of Maryland Artllery ncorporated servng n the Southern Army of the Unted States, 28 th Jany 1782 whch ncludes nformaton on a Captan- Leutenant Ebenezer Fnley, part of Col. Harrson s 1 st Contnental Regment. Though not a prmary source, Wllam T. Sherman lsts n hs massve work on the southern campagns a Capt. Ebenezer Fnley of the 1 st Contnental Artllery. So havng seen the reference n two sources, I have not seen any other reference to Fnley that ndcates a dfferent frst name other than Patrck s books. Regards, Steven J. Rauch, Evans, Ga. The Cambrdge Chapter of the SC Socety of the Sons of the Amercan Revoluton s happy to announce the newly webpublshed Colony-by-Colony Cambrdge Chapter's Comprehensve Complaton of Revolutonary Battles. Ths lsts (more or less chronologcally) the names, alternate names and dates of the 231 known South Carolna battles. Then companon pece, descrbng the above plus the leadershp and drectons to the locaton s currently undergong fnal edt by the commttee and s expected to be avalable by the end of the year. The webste url s: ge_collecton_of_rev_battles.pdf For questons or further nformaton: joeg5950@yahoo.com Best! Joe Goldsmth, Clnton, SC Recently there were some concerns about the actual dentty of a certan pattern of a belt plate that has been excavated from a few Revolutonary War stes n Rhode Island and near Yorktown, Vrgna and haled by some "experts" and re-enactors as the proper belt plate for the Brtsh Marnes of the perod. I have nvestgated ths partcular artfact n the nterest of mprovng my own knowledge of Brtsh naval and marne materal culture, and just receved a reply from the Musee Natonal de la Marne n Pars, of a comprehensve package concernng the hstory of the unform of LE CORPS ROYAL DE MARINE , whch ncludes llustratons and research by Mons. Jean Boudrot and Mchel Petard. It seems that my educated observaton on the desgn of sad belt plate was correct, and the specmens found here n North Amerca were dscarded or lost by De Marne Royale. Beng famlar wth the fouled anchor of the Brtsh Admralty, a devce n use snce Kng Henry untl today, I knew at once upon lookng at the mystery plate's desgn and style of anchor that t had to be ether French, most of all, or Spansh. Also, f you look at the varous cartrdge box desgns used by the French Marnes n the Seven Years War, you wll notce a smlar devce. I hope ths helps those of you who mght run across one of these n the near future, or have excavated one of these and have found t to be a sort of "mystery" belt plate! Wth Best Regards, Thomas Tucker, Rock Hll, SC Hstorc Martme Educator, Consultant & Flm Maker Heartofoak1764@aol.com Eutaw Sprngs Battlefeld Advsory Councl As a part of ther Amercan Battlefelds Protecton Program (ABPP) grant, the Palmetto Conservaton Foundaton (PCF) held an organzatonal meetng n Eutawvlle, SC on November 14, 2006 to form a local commttee to gude development of a long-range preservaton and nterpretaton plan for the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld. SC State Sen. John Matthews opened the program. The project s prmary goals are to delneate the boundares of the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld wth archaeology and to buld a communty based preservaton plan. A budget of $50, has been approved of whch one-half wll come from the Natonal Parks Servce ABPP grant. Mltary archaeologst Scott Butler of Brockngton & Assocates of Norcross, Ga. wll head the archaeology work whch s a follow on to hs ntal 2002 study at the same battlefeld. A follow up communty meetng wll be scheduled at the Eutawvlle Communty Center durng January 2007 when the archaeologcal team s n the feld. 14

15 Calendar of Upcomng Events Please submt tems to post upcomng Southern Campagns programs and events of nterest to Revolutonary War researchers and hstory buffs. Before you go, always call ahead to confrm events and admsson polces. To add events, please contact Steven J. Rauch, calendar edtor at Through January 31, 2007 Chapel Hll, NC - Exhbton "DEFINING A STATE: A Selecton of Maps of North Carolna The North Carolna Collecton Gallery at the Unversty of North Carolna at Chapel Hll presented an exhbton on charts and maps of ths regon datng from 1529 to 1775 n A new exhbton opened n the Gallery on October 19, 2006 complements that earler project and resumes, tme-wse, wth dsplays of North Carolna related maps produced between the Amercan Revoluton and the War of Northern Aggresson. Most of the twenty-eght selectons exhbted n ths exhbton are drawn from the North Carolna Collecton s holdngs, although nne orgnal maps are on loan from a prvate collector, and The Lbrary of Congress provded full-scale copes of two rare North Carolna maps preserved n ts collecton. Another extraordnary reference exhbted from the Unversty Archves s the orgnal plat that depcts the Unversty of North Carolna s ntal campus and the formaton of the town of Chapel Hll. Datng from 1793, ths handdrawn map depcts the vllage s frst surveyed lots and thoroughfares (Frankln and Columba streets), as well as the ntended constructon stes for the Unversty s frst facltes, ncludng the buldng known today as Old East. The nclusve years covered by Defnng a State wtnessed the rse of the Unted States cartographc ndustry, a tme n whch European publshers and prnters relnqushed the monopoly they had held on the producton of maps and atlases depctng North Amerca. By the openng decades of the nneteenth century, the cartographc and geographc resources produced n ths country began to ncrease sgnfcantly n number and, more mportantly, n qualty. The exhbton uses North Carolna maps to examne those trends and n dong so showcases works by notable surveyors, engravers, and publshers, such as Jeddah and Sdney Morse, John Melsh, Jonathan Prce and John Strother, Mathew Carey, Henry Tanner, Jacob Peck, Augustus Mtchell, and Feldng Lucas, Jr. Defnng a State also uses perod maps to llustrate mportant nnovatons n prntng that occurred durng the Golden Age of Amercan Cartography, when relance on copper-plate engravng gave way to less tme-consumng and less expensve processes. Advancements n lthography, cerography, and n other prntng technologes resulted n maps beng more affordable and, as a consequence, more avalable to a growng clentele. For Amercan cartographers, those technologes also made t easer to produce the frequent revsons of maps necesstated by changes wrought by the Unted States rapdly expandng populaton and economy. [Jay Lester, Wllam P. Cummng Map Socety.] November 25, Nnety Sx Natonal Hstorc Ste wll host A Backcountry Holday from 1:00 pm untl 4:00 pm. The past wll come to lfe as you walk nto the hstorc late 18th century Black Swan Tavern, where costumed nterpreters wll be demonstratng Backcountry lfe n the 1700s. Enjoy lght refreshments n the park s hstorc Black Swan Tavern, whch s only open to the publc durng specal events. Relax by the fre or vst the park s Vstor Center for unque gfts. Musket fre wll echo through the park durng Ranger led talks. Chldren wll be nvted to help decorate the cabn and make colonal pomanders for decoraton. The event s free and vstors are nvted to spend an hour or spend the day. The Park s located two mles south of Nnety Sx on SC Hghway 248. Contact the park for detals at (864) or vst the park s webste at December 9, 2006 Smpsonvlle, SC - The SC Socety Sons of the Amercan Revoluton and the Veterans Servce Corps wll be celebratng the Battle of the Great Canebrake that was fought December 22, 1775 near Smpsonvlle, SC. Color guards, a reenactor rfle team for a 21-gun salute, vocalsts, and bagppes wll be there for a wreath layng by several chapters of the Daughters of the Amercan Revoluton and the Sons of the Amercan Revoluton; guest speakers wll explan the sgnfcance of ths battle on the war effort n the SC upstate; re-enactors dressed n perod unforms wll show ther weapons and tools and explan how lfe was n the army at that tme; and Amercan Indans wll be n ceremonal costumes and talk of the struggle they faced to survve. Events start at 10:30 am and are free and open to the publc. Drectons: from Hghway 385, take the Farvew Road Ext, turn west and go 3 mles. Just past Unty Church, turn rght on Harrson Brdge Road. Go 2.2 mles to South Harrson Brdge Road and go one mle to the battle ste. There wll be people to help wth parkng and drectons. If you need further nformaton, please call Charles Porter at (864) December 9, 2006 Southern Campagns Roundtable - Pendleton, SC upstars meetng room at Farmers Hall on the old town square n Pendleton, SC at 10:00 am. The Roundtable conssts of professonals and amateurs actvely engaged n Revolutonary War research, preservaton and nterpretaton; t s an actve exchange of nformaton on the Southern Campagns stes, ther locaton, preservaton, hstorc sgnage, nterpretaton, artfacts, and archaeology as well as the personaltes, mltary tactcs, unts, logstcs, strategy, and the poltcal leadershp of the states. Events wll nclude bref ntroductons at 10:00 am our free flowng roundtable dscussons. The publc s nvted and admsson s free, but we wll pass the hat to pay for the conference room rental and refreshments. A Dutch Treat lunch wll be avalable at the Farmers Market Restaurant. You are also nvted to jon us Saturday nght for some foot stompng bluegrass musc and BBQ at Just More Barbeque. Interested partcpants should brng a short presentaton, pctures, artfacts, maps, ther research nterests, and/or a request for help to share. For more nformaton contact SCAR. December 10, Corps of Dscovery - Pendleton, SC to ste of Col. Andrew Pckens Rng Fght and hs Tamassee Mountan home ste, extant Oconee Staton, vst Gen. Andrew Pckens and Col. Robert Anderson s graves at the Old Stone Church, tour Gen. Pckens Hopewell House and the ste of the Hopewell Treaty Oak, the stes of Fort Rutledge and Cherokee Wars battles. Hosted by Barbara Abernathy. Ths tour s free [$2.00 per person State Parks fee.] and open to the publc. We wll gather to carpool on the square at Pendleton at 9 am. For more nformaton contact SCAR. January 13-14, 2007 Pacolet, SC - Relve hstory on the Vctory March Tral of General Danel Morgan from hs army s base camp at Grndal Shoals on the Pacolet Rver to Cowpens Natonal Battlefeld. The two-day hke of twenty-fve mles through today s Cherokee County travels the old Green Rver Road through beautful natural terran and by many hstorc stes. The march ncludes supply wagons for those who cannot keep the pace all the way and wll have nterpretaton programs at rest stops along the march. Hardy troops may camp overnght at the ste where both Morgan and Tarleton s men camped, one nght apart. Instead of a regstraton fees, hkers are encouraged to contrbute at least $20 to PCF s Battlefeld Preservaton Fund. For more nformaton, 15

16 telephone or emal Marchers should pre-regster for the march wth the Town of Pacolet, one of the march sponsors (emal or telephone (864) January 13-14, 2007 Cowpens Natonal Mltary Park - Annual battle annversary celebraton. January 17, Rchmond, Vrgna - at the Unversty of Rchmond - New Amercan Revoluton Round Table, Rchmond ntal meetng wll be held begnnng wth an optonal dnner at 6:00 pm n the Westhampton Room of the Helman Dnng Center. Under the mentorshp of Dr. Harry M. Ward, Professor Emertus of Hstory at the Unversty of Rchmond and a noted scholar of the revolutonary perod, a small group of nterested persons are n the begnnng stages of formng an Amercan Revoluton Round Table n the Rchmond, Vrgna area. An organzatonal meetng and presentaton by Dr. Ward wll follow at 7:30 pm. He wll be dscussng hs role n the recently publshed revson of Boatner's Encyclopeda of the Amercan Revoluton. Contact Bll Welsch at wmwelsch@comcast.net for more nformaton or to note your ntenson to attend. January 20, 2007 Cayce, SC - the Corps of Dscovery wll moblze agan to explore lttle known Lexngton County Revolutonary War stes wth hstoran Dean Hunt. Begnnng at the reconstructed Cayce House for a tour of the Museum we wll carpool along the Old State Road and stop at ste of Ft. Granby for a dscusson on the Seges on the Brtsh at Fort Granby. Vst the old Granby Cemetery by Congaree Rver; Frdg's (Frday's Ferry), ste of two skrmshes; and dscuss the ste across Congaree Rver the camp of repose at Ancrum's Plantaton. Drve to Congaree Creek brdge, ste of Lee s Legon cavalry, commanded by Maj. Joseph Eggleston's ambush. See ste of bural of herone Emly Geger at her husband s Threewtt's Plantaton. Vst the stes of skrmshes at Tarrar's Sprngs, Muddy Sprngs and Cloud's Creek and tour the Lexngton Museum. Also, vst the ste of the runnng fght at Cedar Creek (Pelon) and the Junper Sprngs skrmsh (Glbert). Meet at the Cayce Hstorcal Museum th Street, Cayce, SC at 9 am for ths free, open to the publc, car pool tour. For more nformaton contact Dean Hunt. Long Range Plannng: July 13, 2007 York, SC - the Southern Revolutonary War Insttute (SRWI) wll host ther bannual symposum on the Revoluton n the Southern states. July 13-15, 2007 Brattonsvlle, SC Battle of Wllamson s Plantaton (Huck s Defeat) reenactments. August 31 - September 2, 2007 Jacksonboro, SC - The Battle of Parkers Ferry. Dana A. Cheney dancer1776@msn.com September 14-15, 2007 Burnsvlle, NC 2d Annual Carolna Mountans Lterary Festval - Revolutonary War Authors Forum. Wll feature two moderated panels on hstorc fcton and hstorans dscussng ther and ther predecessors wordcraft. Plan to jon Denns M. Conrad, Seabrook Wlknson, Charles Prce, John Buchanan and Greg Massey dscussng ther craft as modern wrters of engagng hstory on The Revoluton. December 1-2, Sant Augustne, Fla. 4th Francs Maron Conference 1781, The War Changes, Vctory Starts n the South The 4 th Francs Maron Symposum was held at the DuBose Campus of Central Carolna Techncal College n Mannng, SC on October 27-28, Master storyteller Chrstne Swager set the stage and put nto perspectve the Southern Campagns. Patrck J. O Kelley explaned the seres of unsuccessful attacks made by Gen. Thomas Sumter s troops demonstratng aganst Brtsh the outposts at Granby, Bellevlle and Fort Watson. Ths campagn was started after Lord Cornwalls left hs wnter camps at Wnnsboro, South Carolna chasng Gens. Morgan and Greene across North Carolna and s sometmes called Sumter s Rounds. Col. Francs Lord Rawdon, the Brtsh commander of South Carolna reacted to the SC State Troops and mltas February 1781 operatons by dspatchng three Brtsh/Loyalsts detachments. Brtsh Col. John Watson left the fort he bult and named for hmself chasng Maron through the SC Pee Dee swamps n March Gen. Sumter demoblzed hs troops and wthdrew so the Brtsh reacton refocused on tryng to capture Gen. Francs Maron. Maron drew Col. Watson deep nto the South Carolna swamps usng fght-and-wthdraw tactcs at each swamp passage. Ths s often referred to as Maron s Brdges Campagn. Col. Watson s chase of Gen. Maron started from the Brtsh camp at Fort Watson on Scott s Lake to Wyboo Creek, Canty s Plantaton, Mt. Hope Swamp, Lower Brdge over the Back Rver, Whtherspoon s Plantaton, and to the Sampt Rver Brdge by whch tme Watson s chase of Gen. Maron became an all out retreat nto Georgetown, SC. Gen. Maron s sharpshooters harassed, klled and wounded Watson s men for over a month after whch Gen. Maron agan controlled the entre Pee Dee area of South Carolna, except the town of Georgetown. It s easy to see why Gen. Nathanael Greene detached Lt. Col. Lght Horse Harry Lee s Legon to support Maron n Aprl 1781upon Greene s return to South Carolna. Next on the program, Dan Bell of SC PRT dscussed the three Revolutonary War bural stes the state cares for: Col. Isaac Hayne, Gen. Francs Maron and Gen. Thomas Sumter. Chef Mngo Vernon Tanner of the Indantown communty dscussed the South Carolna Chaloklowa Chckasaw Indan partcpaton n the Revolutonary War. [SCAR was fascnated to learn that the word Mngo s Chckasaw for chef.] Attorney Karen MacNutt of Boston presented antdotes on how we know about Francs Maron as a person. She adrotly outlned several factors known from Maron s youth that undoubtedly nfluenced Maron s personalty and mltary servce n the Revoluton such as hs socal standng as a youth, hs nterest n martme servces, experences on shpboard, and actually beng shpwrecked. Frday nght, the sponsors provded a gracous recepton at Slver Lakes Plantaton Trophy Room, near Paxvlle, SC. We studed our hosts Afrcan safar trophes mounted on the walls and fully mounted on the floor, saw a 3 pounder demonstrated, and enjoyed a drum and ffe mltary musc demonstraton. The conference bus tour went down the Santee Rver Road (the old Catawba Path) where Frances Maron s troops rode and fought on hs Brdges Campagn. The tour stopped at several of Maron s chosen battle stes, at Wyboo Creek [mmersed by Lake Maron], Mount Hope Swamp, and the area of Canty s Plantaton. We also stopped at Fort Watson and the Eutaw Sprngs battlefeld where t s sad by some to be the ste of Gen. Maron s fnest hour as a mltary commander. 16

17 partcularly n spellng. We are dealng wth that problem rght now, and wll have some knd of soluton shortly. It may not be the best one for scholarshp purposes, but wll correct the msspellngs. Last reprnted n 1980, the book s n demand by scholars of the backcountry Southern Campagns. Ths new publcaton wll for the frst tme combne both volumes. Prepublcaton copes of the book, scheduled to be publshed fall of 2006, may be ordered for $25.00 (sales taxes, s & h ncluded) from The Farfeld County Museum, P.O. Box 6, Wnnsboro, S.C Governor Alexander Martn: Bography of a North Carolna Revolutonary War Statesman by Charles D. Rodenbough Nck Sackrson of Daren, Georga, author of an upcomng book on non-tradtonal women n the 18 th and 19 th centures, held the audence s attenton as she morphed from a proper 18 th century lass to a 18 th century male-dressed tradesman. Her presentaton was called, "The non-tradtonal 18th century woman". SCAR photo. Attendees enjoyed a Saturday dnner and theatrcal presentaton of an evenng n hstory wth Joe T. Stukes as Francs Maron lookng for Peter Horry and Lnzy Washngton as Oscar remnscng about other Patrots; songs by Karen and Lenzy Washngton; and Mary Rchardson Brggs played the Rchardson Waltz. Delayed Republcaton of Logan s Hstory of Upper Country of South Carolna Dscount held untl Thanksgvng The Farfeld Museum of Wnnsboro, SC announced that they are agan runnng late on the fall 2006 prepublcaton deadlnes on the Logan book. They wll extend the $25 prce untl Thanksgvng. Long out of prnt, John H. Logan s A Hstory of the Upper Country of South Carolna from the Earlest Perods to the Close of the War of Independence (1859) wll be reprnted by the Farfeld Museum n Wnnsboro, SC. The orgnal work was desgned to be publshed n two volumes; however, the second volume was never publshed. It s beleved that hstoran Lyman Draper took the manuscrpt for the second volume from Mr. Logan s wdow, whch s largely about the Revoluton; however, project coordnator Val Green reports, we have not been able to locate the orgnal manuscrpt. We do not thnk t stll exsts. We used Draper s notes that contaned the materal Dr. Logan collected as our source. They are however, very bad n that there are many, many mstakes, In Governor Alexander Martn: Bography of a North Carolna Revolutonary War Statesman, author Charles D. Rodenbough sets out to burnsh the reputaton of one of North Carolna s foundng fathers, a man whose many accomplshments are nevertheless unfamlar to most of ts ctzens. Even many Revolutonary War enthusasts are not lkely to know that Alexander Martn served wth the 2nd North Carolna Regment of the Contnental Lne for two years and led t nto the battles of Brandywne and Germantown as ts colonel. Nor do most know that after leavng the mltary, Martn worked trelessly as a state delegate to supply North Carolna s war effort, was elected sx tmes as ts governor (the frst tme n 1782), served as one of the state s delegates to the Consttutonal Conventon n Phladelpha n 1787, and then as ts U.S. Senator. Martn s neghbors and poltcal peers obvously trusted hm. So why s Mr. Rodenbough s book the frst bography wrtten about North Carolna s frst post- Revolutonary War governor? One reason s that Martn contrbuted to the Revoluton mostly n the poltcal arena and not on the feld of battle. Fame does not usually le n buldng coaltons, negotatng poltcal compromses, and charng commttees, but that s where Martn s talents lay. In fact, Rodenbough s broadest theme s that Martn and men lke hm consttuted a vtal second level of foundng fathers and a subset of leaders who played secondary but vtal roles n creatng not only Amercan ndependence, but sound and durable governng nsttutons. Wthout these men, the newly ndependent states mght have broken nto smaller warrng groups, just as the Brtsh hoped. The present conflct n Iraq llustrates the mportance of poltcal compromses between rval factons f there s to be lastng peace. Another reason Martn may be under-apprecated s that hs relatvely short mltary career was tanted. Durng the acrmony and fnger pontng after the Battle of Germantown n October 1777, he was accused of cowardce under fre. He asked for a court-martal and was cleared of all charges, yet he was so worn down from poltcal nfghtng n the North Carolna Lne that he resgned and never agan took the feld. Then, to make matters 17

18 worse, whle servng on North Carolna s Board of War, he made a lfe-long enemy of Revolutonary War hero Wllam R. Dave. As Rodenbough notes, Dave left hs papers to hstory, along wth some caustc and belttlng remarks about Martn, whle Martn s papers were lost. Moreover, Martn never marred and thus had no famly to protect and cultvate hs legacy. Rodenbough suggests that Martn s character and poltcal accomplshments place hm n the frst ter of North Carolna Revolutonary-era heroes. The author descrbes Martn s most mportant servce to the Revoluton and hs state as buldng a poltcal brdge between North Carolna s rulng eastern elte and ts ndependent backcountry populaton. Martn moved from New Jersey to the growng backcountry town of Salsbury, North Carolna n 1760 and quckly became an nfluental ctzen there. He understood the backcountry folk s suspcon of authorty and belef n ndvdual freedom he came from the same Northern Ireland Scotch-Irsh stock as many of them. He was better educated than most, havng graduated from Prnceton n New Jersey. He started hs career n the backcountry as a merchant, but lke Dave, who also attended Prnceton, he became a lawyer, later servng as justce of the peace, deputy Kng's attorney, and eventually judge of Salsbury dstrct. When the Regulator movement erupted n the backcountry n the 1770's, Martn found a mddle ground, nsstng on law and order whle calmng Regulator anger and seekng remedes for some of ther genune complants. These actvtes as detaled by Rodenbough earned Martn experence, reputaton and trust that later allowed hm to represent the backcountry and brng ts support to the Revolutonary cause and later the new state government. It was a trust he enjoyed and used for poltcal success from the 1770s almost to hs death n Yet t was not a success for personal gan but for the beneft of the ctzens of hs state; a phlosophy guded by hs upbrngng and values fully explored by Rodenbough. One of ths book s strengths s the way t weaves nformaton on the socal, economc and cultural growth of North Carolna nto the story of Martn s lfe and career. Whether t s Governor Wllam Tryon s comments about one thousand wagons wth famles passng through Salsbury n a few months, or detals concernng Martn s brother s lme kln, the reader feels the backcountry growng and developng. Specal attenton s gven to Martn s unque and close relatonshp wth the Moravan communty at Salem. The book also detals Martn s frendshp wth numerous famous fgures. Martn s brother, Thomas, was tutor to James Madson, Sr. s chldren, and t was Martn, passng through Vrgna on a trp to New Jersey, who convnced the senor Madson to send hs son James to Prnceton for an educaton. Martn lkewse served as Danel Boone s lawyer n Salsbury. One of Boone s employers was Rchard Henderson, who was also Martn s brother-n-law and one of colonal Amerca s grandest land speculators (no 20th century boy rased on Count Dracula stores can forget Henderson s proposed state of Transylvana n what later became Kentucky). Martn escorted George Washngton through western North Carolna durng the latter s Southern tour. Rodenbough wrote a book on the hstory of Rockngham County, North Carolna, as well as other artcles on hstorcal subjects. He lves n Madson, North Carolna. Whle Alexander Martn s well wrtten showng much work, research and thought, readers should be warned that ts language tends toward the academc. Two sentences from the preface gve an dea of the author s style: There s a consderable body of recent nonfcton advancng the crtcal mportance and unque crcumstances that gathered a partcular band of brothers n colonal Amerca to ntate a revoluton and create the frst democratc republc of the mllennum, and The passage of North Carolna from the domnaton of tdewater, mercantle elte to reflect the nsular demands of an mpovershed fronter majorty materalzed as a poltcal realty n the course of the rebellon aganst Brtsh colonal rule. Apply ths prose to an analyss of 18th century poltcs, and you ve got the type of book not everyone fnds nterestng. But I dd. I lament wth the author that we do not know the precse locaton of Alexander Martn s grave and applaud hs book s attempt to correct prevous tepd assessments of the man s career. Davd McKssack SCAR Contrbutor Blacksburg, Va. Charles D. Rodenbough has wrtten artcles for such publcatons as Russan Lfe, Mddle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy & Hstory, Relgon n Eastern Europe and Rockngham County Journal of Hstory and Genealogy. Governor Alexander Martn: Bography of a North Carolna Revolutonary War Statesman, by Charles D. Rodenbough, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2004), 242 pp. X More Eutaws Conference Candds Eutaws Conference Panel Dscusson of scholars (l to r) Felds, Butler, Dunkerly, Swager, Rauch, and Pecuch. Tred toursts pose under the lve oaks at the Eutaw Sprngs Battlefeld Park. Photo by Lanny Morgan. 18

19 Eutaw Sprngs 225 th Annversary Reenactment A lady addresses a troop of the Contnental dragoons. Gen. Nathanael Greene had both Lee s Partsan Legon dragoons and Lt. Col. Wllam Washngton s 3d Contnental dragoons wth hm when attackng the Brtsh camped at Eutaw Sprngs. Photo courtesy of Robert Nance. Eutaw Sprngs Archaeologst Scott Butler. Eutawvlle, SC Labor Day weekend saw several hundred spectators turn out to wtness the frst recreaton of the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs near the actual battlefeld snce the bcentennal celebratons n Great on-lne photo gallery of the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs 225 Annversary Reenactment by Robert Nance: eenactment&page=1 "If ye love wealth greater than lberty, the tranqulty of servtude better than the anmatng contest for freedom, go home and leave us n peace. We seek not your councl nor your arms. Crouch down and lck the hand that feeds you, and may posterty forget that ye were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams US Army Mltary Hstoran Professor Steven J. Rauch. Eutaw Sprngs Conference Presenters Dr. Lee F. McGee of Pttsburgh, Pa. Davd Reuwer and Jm Pecuch present on Gen. Greene s approach to Eutaw Sprngs along the old Rver Road. SCAR photo by Lanny Morgan. 19

20 Yorktown Report by Davd McKssack When Charles Baxley asked me to wrte a reenactor s report on the events surroundng the 225 th celebraton at Yorktown, I was excted. I antcpated the event would lend tself well to reportng n the epstolary form, where the reenactor wrtes a letter home as f he had actually partcpated n a great event of the 18 th century. As thngs turned out, however, Yorktown 225 on Vrgna s lower pennsula was not just a reenactment, but a celebraton embracng the entre Colonal Natonal Hstorc Park ( The event boasted a mult-faceted schedule for the attendng publc (afterwards calculated at 48,000 vstors) that ncluded reenactments, mltary demonstratons from several hstorc perods, craft fars, and modern muscal performances. Most battle reenactments occurred off government property because of Natonal Park Servce rules, and those that dd occur at the park requred opposng lnes to fre at each other from an unrealstc yards. Obvously, combnng modern day actvtes wth 18 th century ones makes the epstolary style problematc. In addton, none of the unts upon whch Southerners base ther reenactng organzatons (such as mne, the 2 nd North Carolna were really at Yorktown; they were fghtng wth Gen. Nathanael Greene at the tme or had surrendered at Charleston. Despte these obstacles, I wll attempt the epstolary form and entrust myself to the reader s forbearance at any rough spots. Lkewse, I rely on the acumen of SCAR s elte readers to sort whch events n my letter are real to the Yorktown campagn and whch are products of my fevered magnaton. Anyone wantng to follow my adventures can consult on-lne maps of the Yorktown area and battlefeld at Lkewse, an excellent webste, wth maps, detalng Gen. Lafayette s 1781 summer campagn before Yorktown, s avalable at Fnally, there are many good books on the Yorktown Campagn, but my personal favorte s Beat the Last Drum by Thomas Flemng. It s an old one (1963), but I thnk t s an excellent combnaton of human-nterest stores and campagn detals. Many of the frst-person accounts n my letter below can be found n Flemng s book. Your Most Humble and Obedent Servant, Davd McKssack My Dearest Son Wllam: October 29, 1804 I much rejoced n recevng your letter of the 1 st ultmo from St. Lous. I was dsapponted to hear that your request to accompany Captans Lews and Clark on ther expedton westward was dened and that you must contnue wth the garrson n town. Ah well, there wll be other adventures f you do your duty and bde your tme. In hs purchase of the Lousana terrtores, Presdent Jefferson certanly showed a streak of boldness and enterprse he d never shown whle Vrgna s Governor. Perhaps next he wll buy the Spansh terrtores to the south and send you wth an expedton there he s always lookng for ways to expand hs collecton of old bones and odd plants. Ha! (You wll forgve your Papa s attempts at humor, I am sure.) You asked n your letter for an account of my servce n the sege of Yorktown and the surrender there of General Cornwalls army. As I am well-acquanted wth the tedum of a solder s lfe, and know full-well the dversonary value of letters from relatves and home, I have sat down near a warm fre on ths cold day to wrte you an account of that happy event, and I wll persevere to the end, sufferng no one to turn me from my duty, just as I and my muchloved comrades, many of whom have departed ths lfe, pushed on through 8 years of war to Lberty. A brd n the hand Durng the openng stages of the Yorktown campagn, I was servng n South Carolna wth Colonel Lee s Legon. Shortly before our vctory at Eutaw Sprngs (and I do call t vctory the Brtsh won by holdng the feld about as much as a beaver wns by hs dam holdng for one hour n a hurrcane) word arrved that General Washngton was marchng hs army from New York to surround Cornwalls at Yorktown. I remember well how, upon recept of that ntellgence, General Nathanael Greene commented, "We have been beatng the bush, and the General has come to catch the brd." To be clear, General Greene was not clamng the credt for Cornwalls predcament. Even a brllant strategst lke General Greene could not have foreseen all the events leadng to Cornwalls ultmate fate at Yorktown (although, to be sure, a smlar fate, usng a smlar plan, had been contemplated by General Washngton for trappng the army of the arch-trator, Benedct Arnold, when he led an nvason of Vrgna earler n the same year). No, General Greene s pont was that Cornwalls fate was a consequence of events not just n Vrgna, but of the actvtes of our armes from South Carolna to New York. We n the South had done our part n the famous Race to the Dan, drawng Cornwalls on, wearng hs army out, and gvng t a terrble wound at Gulford Courthouse. We left hm no choce other than declarng vctory and marchng north to Vrgna. Once n Vrgna, hs fortunes revved brefly as he unted wth more troops, but then General Washngton s actvtes around New York Cty frghtened Brtsh General Clnton nto thnkng an attack was mmnent there. Anxous, Clnton ordered Cornwalls to send many of hs men to renforce New York, then to fortfy a Vrgna port wth hs dmnshed army and wat. Consderng these events, I would extend General Greene s analogy to say that he beat the bush, General Clnton bult the coop, and General Washngton shot the brd. At any rate, what permtted my presence at Yorktown was a dspute arsng from Colonel Lee s part n the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs. Colonel Lee felt slghted for prase by General Greene (the detals need not detan us), and I thnk ths may be the reason he requested permsson to return to Vrgna. I was allowed to accompany the Colonel on furlough on order to vst your mother, yourself and your sster n Southwest Vrgna. I would later rejon Colonel Lee at Yorktown. My furlough ended far too soon. Duty called n the form of a dspatch from Colonel Lee. I marched for Yorktown, where, accordng to my orders, I would be detached for duty wth an nfantry regment. At ths pont, I knew the Brtsh were hemmed-n and gong nowhere. Clearly, there was no need for me to hurry to the front. My hearty comrades n the nfantry were better suted for dggng approaches than a genteel and refned cavalryman such as myself. Moreover, I felt t would beneft my country f I went nto battle well fed and refreshed, so I approached the front through easy 20

21 marches, and stopped n Wllamsburg, Vrgna. By such judcous decson-makng you wll note that by then I was thoroughly a veteran solder. Wllamsburg A Town Unchaned In my youth, Wllamsburg was the state captal. ( I m sure you remember from your studes that the seat of government was moved n 1780 from that place to Rchmond to avod Brtsh rads, all for naught, of course, snce the arch-trator Benedct Arnold, at the head of an army of redcoats, burned the cty n (I remnd you, Wllam, of the charred and cracked teacup your grandmother stll retans as a relc of that unhappy event.) Much of the town was stll n ashes as I passed through on my way to Wllamsburg. When I arrved n Wllamsburg, recently lberated from Brtsh occupaton, I was delghted to encounter those few members of the Second South Carolna Regment ( not captured at Charleston. They were camped on Market Square and had been n Wllamsburg the entre week, enjoyng lfe comfortable quarters, meals provded by the town, and no duty other than showng resdents the partculars of a solder s lfe and guardng aganst attempts by spes or Tores to ad Cornwalls. I say ths partly n jest whle ther duty mght seem trflng, you must remember that Wllamsburg s no more than 7 mles from Yorktown and at ths pont contaned a substantal stock of supples for our sege. We learned after the surrender, mostly from Butcher Tarleton s self-servng memors, that n the prevous month, General Cornwalls planned to launch a lghtnng rad on the cty as a way of dsruptng our preparatons and ganng tme for hmself and a rescue force. Tarleton boasted of rdng through our lnes around Wllamsburg n the dark of late September, when General Washngton was n town, but before hs troops had joned Lafayette s. Provdence smled on us yet agan when Cornwalls cancelled hs attack at the last mnute -- letters from General Clnton assured hm renforcements would land wthn days. Wsely, General Washngton kept a regment-szed guard n Wllamsburg to protect our supples even once we began our advance. We could not spare tme n replacng the supples. The French admral De Grasse had gven General Washngton only untl the end of October to compel Cornwalls surrender, on whch date the French would sal away. Any moment could brng word of a Brtsh rescue fleet tryng to force an entrance nto the Chesapeake Bay. Fortfyng myself for battle Upon hearng that I ntended to meet frends for supper and frolcs, my South Carolna frends offered me quarters for the nght n the event I contracted barrel fever. I do not know f young gentlemen stll use ths term, but durng my tme of servce t was a malady caught by a too-free assocaton wth a barrel of sprts. Symptoms ncluded a rollng stomach, mornng headache, and on occason, blackened eyes and lost teeth. Most sufferers recovered, but n some the llness recurred all too frequently. Heedless of that danger, I salled forth to jon my frends n nearby Chownngs Tavern ( m). One frend was Leutenant Mke Cecere, an offcer who d served wth the 7 th Vrgna Regment. After the war, Mr. Cecere became a schoolteacher and authored fve books on the Revoluton (an example s at After a hearty meal of Brunswck stew and fresh bread, we sang songs both patrotc lke Free Amerkay (to the tune of the Brtsh Grenader), Yankee Doodle, and Chester and more rollckng drnkng songs lke Down Among the Dead Men and Froggy Went A Woong. By evenng s end, havng cut the leashes on our youthful enthusasm, we launched nto the bawdy ballad The Lusty Young Smth but stopped abruptly upon the unexpected late arrval at an adjonng table of a famly ncludng chldren (I dd not ask, but assumed they were French. Who else would allow chldren to be out n a publc house at so late an hour?). The nght ended n a peanut-throwng war wth a group of wenches whom we suspected of beng Brtsh camp followers. Fortunately, nether the tavern s wanderng fddlers nor dnng cvlans were ht n the exchange of fre. Near the mdnght hour, I bd my companons adeu and stepped out upon Wllamsburg s quet streets, refreshed. Thus far, I had avoded barrel fever and other dangers to a solder s health. Seeng as how beds n Wllamsburg were beyond the means of an unpad solder, I heeded my pocketbook (and, of course, the claron trumpet of battle) and sought my post. As the wagons carryng the tents of my regment would not arrve untl the next day, I bedded down on a blanket under the stars n our stagng area, Endvew Plantaton ( a few mles from Yorktown. Here I slept soundly, vsons of the Brtsh wenches n Chownngs dancng n my head (you wll not repeat that to your mother), untl about an hour before sunrse. Splashes on my face sgnaled ether ran or a solder who d mstaken my bed near the bushes for a convenent latrne. Luckly, t proved the former less-rksome event, and I ducked nto shelter only moments before a ragng storm. Arrval at the front Shortly after sunrse, I marched toward Yorktown and the front. Solders along the way warned me to take care. There had been several ncdents between our troops and the sentnels of our French alles, mostly because of language dfferences, and men had almost been shot. Nevertheless, I arrved at the front wthout ncdent, and was mmedately mpressed wth the sze of the Yorktown battlefeld and the Brtsh nner lne. Our foe s works descrbed a half moon curvng out toward us, wth the rver formng ts back. From the Fusler redoubt on the Brtsh rght to Redoubts 9 and 10 on ther left, the works covered about two mles. These works encompassed the vllage of Yorktown, whch sts on a bluff overlookng the York Rver. The ground beng uneven along the rver, t was mpossble to see from one end of the lne to the other. Vast, almost flat felds lay between us and our enemes, a landscape that has been preserved to ths very day. (For clarty, you mght wsh to consult the map I have enclosed wth ths document.) As I had hoped, my frends n the nfantry had dug the trenches and our frst parallel that allowed our sege guns to begn batterng the Brtsh works. A Massachusetts solder named Joseph Plumb Martn helped dg the approaches under cover of nght and reported General Washngton s presence out n that dangerous area between the lnes: One-thrd part of all the troops were put n requston to be employed n openng the trenches. A thrd part of our Sappers and Mners were ordered out ths nght to assst the engneers n layng out the works. It was a very dark and rany nght. However, we repared to the place and began by followng the engneers and layng laths of pne wood end-to-end upon the lne marked out by the offcers for the trenches. We had not proceeded far n the busness before the engneers ordered us to desst and reman where we 21

22 were and be sure not to straggle a foot from the spot whle they were absent from us. In a few mnutes after ther departure, there came a man alone to us, havng on a surtout, as we conjectured, t beng exceedng dark, and nqured for the engneers. We now began to be a lttle jealous for our safety, beng alone and wthout arms, and wthn forty rods of the Brtsh trenches. The stranger nqured what troops we were, talked famlarly wth us a few mnutes, when, beng nformed whch way the offcers had gone, he went off n the same drecton, after strctly chargng us, n case we should be taken prsoners, not to dscover to the enemy what troops we were. We were oblged to hm for hs knd advce, but we consdered ourselves as standng n no great need of t, for we knew as well as he dd that Sappers and Mners were allowed no quarters, at least, are enttled to none, by the laws of warfare, and of course should take care, f taken, and the enemy dd not fnd us out, not to betray our own secret. In a short tme the engneers returned and the aforementoned stranger wth them. They dscoursed together some tme when, by the offcers often callng hm Your Excellency, we dscovered that t was General Washngton. Had we dared, we mght have cautoned hm for exposng hmself too carelessly to danger at such a tme, and doubtless he would have taken t n good part f we had. But nothng ll happened to ether hm or ourselves. I should menton there are several accounts of General Washngton s placng hmself n danger at Yorktown whle scoutng our enemes lnes or hastenng the progress of our works. I thnk he worred that ths enormous chance to defeat the Brtsh, a chance he d been watng on for 6 years, mght slp through hs fngers f he dd not personally supervse almost every aspect of the campagn. Whatever the reason, he was totally heedless of danger and drove the work relentlessly. The great guns open fre The fre of our great guns from the frst parallel announced the sege had begun n earnest. Whle our trenches provded protecton from enemy fre, they were no perfect sanctuary. In connecton wth ths I should menton an ncdent nvolvng Alexander Hamlton and General Henry Knox whch I heard from a frend n the artllery. Wth the frst parallel complete and the ntaton of battery fre, General Knox ordered hs artllerymen, upon sghtng an approachng shell, to shout Shell! at whch pont the solders n the vcnty would lay flat untl the shell exploded. Beng rather full of hmself n hs recent appontment as commander of a lght nfantry battalon, Colonel Hamlton approached Knox and told hm such behavor was unsolderly. As the two men argued the pont, there came the cry A shell! A shell! and two projectles landed n the trench nearby. Knox and Hamlton scrambled for cover. In the panc, the dmnutve Hamlton grabbed the portly Knox and twsted the general nto poston between hmself and the bomb. Knox threw Hamlton off and the two men bured ther faces n the drt as the shells exploded. Knox rose and snapped, Now what do you thnk, Mr. Hamlton, about cryng, Shell? But let me tell you not to make a breastwork of me agan. About dusk, to the symphony of cannon bombardng Brtsh lnes, the wagons carryng my regments camp equpment arrved and we erected an enormous camp by the standards of our partcular army 32 tents, not ncludng those of the Captan, Leutenant, and Sergeant, and the ktchen. We knew where to set up our tents because, as usual, quartermasters had preceded us and lad out the camp, ndcatng wth stakes and twne the tent lnes for each regment. It was late nght and very chlly by the tme we fnshed our new home. And so, havng arrved wthn sght of the enemy, I lay down n my tent to rest for the next day s fghtng. A Brtsh band, nvsble somewhere down the bluff behnd Yorktown, played along the waterfront. The band played musc the lkes of whch I d never before heard. Ther drums beat emphatcally, drvng musc that I can only descrbe as harsh, savage and not of ths world. Ths perssted late nto the nght, no doubt to enlarge the sprts of the surrounded Brtsh. My tent mate told me he recognzed one of the tunes an ancent Spansh pece called The Macarena. The second day The next mornng, before sunrse, the ffes and drums of our musc banged and squealed us awake. Ah, the joys of startng a fre -- n the dark, n freezng weather, wth green wood and the wnd blowng -- then watng, watng as water n kettles slowly comes to a bol I need not tell you, my solder son, that under such condtons a consderable amount of tme lapses between dressng n the dark n your tent and sttng wth a cup of hot coffee or tea n your hand. We were fortunate to have several ndustrous wves n the regment help wth ths. Perhaps you have read Mrs. Sarah Osborne s account of brngng food to her husband and hs messmates n the trenches. We formed for nspecton after our breakfast. Sergeants checked our muskets for proper functonng and dstrbuted ammunton. We steeled our hearts and marched for battle. Over the course of the day, our army launched assaults on three Brtsh redoubts The Fuslers Redoubt on the Brtsh extreme rght (so-called because t was held by the 23 rd Royal Welsh Fuslers), and redoubts 9 and 10 on the Brtsh extreme left. My regment partcpated only n the attack on the Fuslers redoubt, a rather desultory affar n whch we were repulsed wth heavy loss, especally among the French troops. We fared better at the other end of the lne, wth our Amercan lght nfantry overrunnng redoubt 10 and the French takng redoubt 9. An asde a gatherng of many races The presence of so many French troops was an unusual aspect of the sege of Yorktown. In fact, the French army outnumbered our Amercan army. Only those of us who d fought at Savannah n 1779 (and we were precous few) had had any opportunty to meet French solders. At Yorktown, ther unforms and flags ntrgued us and added new colors to our camp. On Saturday mornng, one of my comrades sad, Look, the undertakers are here, and I turned to see three solders dressed n what appeared to be completely black smallclothes and shortcoats. When I asked these solders ther regment, they answered n French accents and sad they were of the Oxen regment. From that answer, I assumed they must be wagoneers, but asked them to spell ther regment s name; t was Auxonne, a French artllery unt, and ther clothes were an extreme dark blue, not black. Along wth ths letter, I am enclosng a document gvng you my best recollecton of all the French ( regments n servce wth us. Whle we owe them a debt for Yorktown, I do hope Presdent Jefferson s enthusasm for thngs French does not nvolve us n ther bloody revoluton, the goals of whch bear no resemblance to ours, and whch has ended n the enthronement of the tyrant Napoleon. To be sure, the French were only one aspect of a sege that nvolved men of nearly every race from around the world. A 22

23 French offcer, Souvenr du Chevaler Vlle Bresme, later wrote: "That gatherng of solders from so many natons was very curous to see because of the dfferences of unforms; Englsh, Scots, Germans, French, and Amercans formed a sngular assembly, but those who attracted the most attenton were the Marqus de Lafayette's rflemen, recruted among the trappers and woods runners of the Indan fronter-- all men of gallows countenances, but very adrot [marksmen] wth ther long rfles and recognzed by ther headgear whch were ornamented wth hgh black and red plumes." And even that remark does not nclude everyone. I should menton here seeng a most unusual group -- the black troops of the Frst Rhode Island Regment ( Lke many of the French, they wore whte unforms. The General Assembly of Rhode Island had voted n 1777 that every able-boded Negro, Mulatto and Indan slave could enlst for the duraton of the war. Bountes and wages would be the same as those of free men and the recruts would be free. You may remember South Carolna s Colonel John Laurens suggested rasng a regment of black troops earler n the war, but the proposton was dsmssed as unwse. In support of Colonel Laurens (long may hs name be honored), I must say these negroes fought as well as whte troops. A sgn of ther value was that they were brgaded wth General Lafayette s Lght Infantry. It s a cause for concern that now, my son, 20 years after wnnng our freedom under the Declaraton s clam of all men are created equal, we have not yet found a way to solve the problem of slavery. To be sure, t s an ssue that admts of no easy soluton, wth so much captal nvested n human chattel, and lkewse the problem of turnng an uneducated, enslaved people nto the world (havng the wolf by the ears as Mr. Jefferson once put t). John Laurens sad, I thnk we Amercans, at least n the Southern Colones, cannot contend wth a good Grace, for Lberty, untl we shall have enfranchsed our Slaves. How can we whose Jealousy has been alarm'd more at the Name of Oppresson sometmes than at the Realty, reconcle to our sprted Assertons of the Rghts of Manknd, the gallng abject Slavery of our negroes... Wllam, we postpone addressng ths conundrum at our perl. Even now I see tny fssures n our unon that can only grow nto an alarmng chasm f we do not address t. Your generaton must resolve ths problem lest t destroy all my comrades and I fought for n the Revoluton. But your Papa s wanderng off the man tral of hs story, as he s wont to do these days. The Brtsh play for tme Our successful sezure of redoubts 9 and 10 removed the last obstacles between the man Brtsh lnes and us. That nght, our Sappers and Mners ncorporated the redoubts nto a new trench lne even closer to our enemes. Once our bg guns were moved nto these lnes, they bombarded the Brtsh fortfcatons lke angry gants hurlng rocks at a chld s castle of drt and stcks. As the sun set on Saturday (some sources say t was n the mddle of the nght), Brtsh troops, led by ther Colonel Abercrombe, launched a sorte nto our lnes to dsrupt our approaches and spke our cannon. Cornwalls hoped yet agan to buy tme for the Brtsh fleet and renforcements, whch he antcpated every hour, and ndeed, whch General Clnton had promsed hm. Alerted to the attack, our troops stood n the trenches exchangng volley after volley wth the Brtsh who fred from ther man lnes to cover Abercrombe s retreat. Gunpowder smoke spread lke a thck fog and soon covered the wasted land between our lnes. Soon, we could see nothng of the Brtsh except ther volleys n the smoke, whch from our vantage pont looked lke the rapd openng and closng of lnes of hundreds of orange chrysanthemum blossoms. Ctzens local to the area told me that the sght was magnfcent. Abercrombe s men succeeded n spkng our cannon, but to lttle purpose; hs men dd not possess the spkng nals and could only break ther bayonet tps off n our cannon touchholes. Once we reganed the trenches, our artllerymen extracted these mpedments and ther cannon fred agan by the next day. The brd attempts to fly At ths pont General Cornwalls stll controlled the upper York Rver, as our French frends could not ascend t due to uncooperatve wnds and ther navy s reluctant sprt. In the early stages of our nvestment of hs army, Cornwalls mysterously abandoned hs outer lne wthout a shot n defense, the capture of whch would have cost our army much blood. (We dscovered later that General Clnton had sent yet another message to Cornwalls, tellng hm a rescue force, ncludng 4000 fresh troops, would arrve wthn the week.) Cornwalls unaccountable wthdrawal from hs outer lnes worred General Washngton. He thought Cornwalls mght be plannng a bold escape by crossng the York Rver to Gloucester, and leavng our army to try and catch hm as he marched north. Hs Excellency had hmself escaped dsaster by stealng hs army across rvers twce -- at Brooklyn and Trenton. You wll remember that the geography around Yorktown would have made t a very dffcult maneuver to defend aganst, as t would have placed several rvers between the Brtsh and us. Cornwalls defntely had the boats and the ntrepd character to attempt ths scheme. Hs Excellency was prescent, for the nght before Cornwalls surrendered, that worthy adversary dd ndeed attempt to ferry hs army across the York and escape va Gloucester Pont. And he almost succeeded. He had managed to convey a part of hs army across the rver when, completely wthout warnng, a lashng (I would say Provdental) storm broke, so churnng the waters and scatterng hs boats that he had to abandon hs plan of escape. Daylght found many of the craft, full of solders, stll on the York Rver and our artllery played havoc upon them. The brd s bagged The falure of Cornwalls plan of escape gave hm no choce but to surrender. Our sege guns n the second parallel had gotten so close to hs lnes that the next day they would knock hs works down around hs ears. Then our men, at least twce hs number, would assault hs decmated and exhausted troops as they stood on, not n, ther flattened works. I know Desm and other phlosophes have some currency wth you and your frends, and we have argued that ssue n the past, but to those who doubt the actve hand of Provdence n our lves, I pont to the fact that General Cornwalls request for terms of surrender came on October 17 the very day when, four years earler, Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga. I argue to you that ths (along wth the fortutous storm mentoned above) s evdence Provdence s not only actve n our affars, but enjoys a delghtful sense of rony. As you mght expect, the surrender ceremony was qute movng. Approprately, a gentle ran began fallng as our regments and others formed to march to the surrender feld. (Oddly, no accounts of ths ran appear n any of the accounts of the surrender, but I was there, and I tell you t happened.) Many of our troops musket 23

24 barrels turned a brght orange from rust. I need not tell you that we solders hate war more than anyone else and I recall lookng at those orange barrels and prayng that f all the swords and arms n the world could not be turned nto plowshares, maybe at least one day they would rust and dsappear nto dust. The Crown s forces played ther part manfully. They passed between our lnes at a slow march n ther best unforms. The Brtsh regments passed frst. German regments came next. No jests or jeers ssued from our lnes. All proceeded n a quet broken only by the weepng of ther camp followers, who brought up the rear. Those of us lnng the road dd not see them ground ther arms n surrender. Ths occurred at the far end of the feld n the presence of mounted hussars. I am told t was a hard moment for our foes. As you can magne, we celebrated our vctory. However, wthn an all-too short tme, we packed up camp and I accompaned General Mad Anthony Wayne s Pennsylvana Brgade south for the fnal fghtng of the war. General Washngton returned to New York wth most of the army. And that was that. Concluson Readng back over my letter, I see t s mostly a collecton of gossp and play not what I had ntended when I sat down to wrte. I apologze, Wllam, but over the years I have pushed many of the horrble scenes of battle nto the background and focused on those less panful. The prvatons we suffered, the terrble fears and comrades lost... Ah, there you wll see that smudge of water n the nk above. My memores have unmanned me. The tears do flow. Perhaps I wll make another try at some future tme at wrtng down other memores for you, not just from Yorktown, but other battles as well. Or better yet, I wll buy a copy of the book Colonel Lee s plannng on the war n the South and add my perspectve on ts contents for you. In closng, let me say that you have often heard me jest that I gve all glory to your mother for brngng you and your ssters and brothers nto the world. Hers was the pan and effort n gvng you lfe. If she gave you lfe, you wll forgve me f I clam a tny porton of the credt for gvng you a country. Some people say that your Captans Lews and Clark carry forward our naton s destny of fllng up ths contnent. I do not know. I am no prognostcator. I do know that the character of our naton s as mportant to me as ts eventual sze. And now, our naton s future s more n your hands than t s n mne, Wllam. Whatever your choces, my son, please remember, ts early years were watered not just wth your Papa s tears, but hs blood and that of hs frends. THANKSGIVING 1782 By the Unted States n Congress assembled. Proclamaton. It beng the ndspensable duty of all Natons, not only to offer up ther supplcatons to Almghty God, the gver of all good, for hs gracous assstance n a tme of dstress, but also n a solemn and publc manner to gve hm prase for hs goodness n general, and especally for great and sgnal nterpostons of hs provdence n ther behalf: Therefore the Unted States n Congress assembled, takng nto ther consderaton the many nstances of dvne goodness to these States, n the course of the mportant conflct n whch they have been so long engaged; the present happy and promsng state of publc affars; and the events of the war, n the course of the year now drawng to a close; partcularly the harmony of the publc Councls, whch s so necessary to the success of the publc cause; the perfect unon and good understandng whch has htherto subssted between them and ther Alles, notwthstandng the artful and unweared attempts of the common enemy to dvde them; the success of the arms of the Unted States, and those of ther Alles, and the acknowledgement of ther ndependence by another European power, whose frendshp and commerce must be of great and lastng advantage to these States: Do hereby recommend to the nhabtants of these States n general, to observe, and request these several States to nterpose ther authorty n appontng and commandng the observaton of Thursday the twenty-eghth day of November next, as a day of solemn Thanksgvng to God for all hs merces: and they do further recommend to all ranks, to testfy ther grattude to God for hs goodness, by a cheerful obedence to hs laws, and by promsng, each n hs staton, and by hs nfluence, the practce of true and undefled relgon, whch s the great foundaton of publc prosperty and natonal happness. Done n Congress, at Phladelpha, the eleventh day of October, n the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred eghty-two and of our Soveregnty and Independence, the seventh. John Hanson, Presdent Charles Thomson, Secretary transcrbed by Davd P. Reuwer Your Proud and Affectonate Father, Papa Greg Urwn: Ths URL wll brng up clps from the documentary that Lonheart Flm Works s fashonng from the footage t shot at the 2006 Yorktown Reenactment: reenactment-clps.html. After the Eutaw Sprngs Conference, attendees joned Maj. Bll Connor of the Eutaw Sprngs Chapter SAR who presented a commemoratve program marlng the 225 th Annversary of the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs at the battlefeld park. He was asssted by SAR Regonal Vce Presdent General Greg H. Ohanesan of Bennettsvlle, SC [n Contnental unform] and Douglas B. Doster of Cameron, SC. SCAR photo by Lanny Morgan. 24

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26 The Battle of Brar Creek, Georga by Robert S. Davs In answer to repeated pleas from the Contnental Congress for troops to be sent south, North Carolna dspatched 250 Contnentals and nne month levees along wth some 1,000 mltamen n late 1778, commanded by ffty-four year old Maj. Gen. John Ashe to act n the defense of South Carolna or n an nvason of Brtsh East Florda. The march south faced many problems. These largely raw troops were badly suppled and the solders wth weapons were ndfferently armed. Ther offcers ranged from experenced Contnentals to men who were hardly more knowledgeable n mltary affars than the rawest recruts, ncludng poltcal appontees and the corrupt. Ashe acheved somethng of a mltary success just n gettng 900 of hs troops, wth ther cattle and pgs herded before them, to Southern Department Patrot Commander Maj. Gen. Benjamn Lncoln's camp n Charleston by January 1, Unforeseen events changed ther objectve, however. An expedton of 3,000 Brtsh, Loyalst and Hessan troops from New York under Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell captured Savannah, Georga, on December 29, After beng renforced by 900 men of the Brtsh garrson from East Florda under Brg. Gen. Augustn Prévost, Campbell led a detachment of some 1,000 troops nto the Georga backcountry and captured Augusta by the end of January unhndered retreat. Hs men dd take as compensaton a dozen head of cattle that the Brtsh had slaughtered and then left n ther retreat. Campbell and hs command had actually traveled southwest from Augusta and crossed Brar Creek on a pontoon brdge at Odom s Ferry. From there the Kng s men marched southwest, along Brar Creek to the Savannah Rver at Hudson s Ferry before reachng the Brtsh base camps at Ebenezer and Savannah. By contrast, when John Ashe and hs North Carolnans fnally set out n pursut, they marched southeast along the northeast sde of the deep Brar Creek wth ts adjonng swamps. Eventually these Amercans reached what Brtsh Lt. John Wlson had descrbed as a farm house and a few out buldngs that lkely belonged to Anderson or Andrew McCurre/McCorre near where Brar Creek and ts swamps joned the Savannah Rver. Ashe could go no further for the Freeman-Mller brdge across Brar Creek, then swollen wth Sprng rans, had been destroyed. Who burned the brdge and, therefore, unntentonally caused the events that followed? Brtsh Lt. Col. Jacques Marcus Prévost destroyed t to prevent a march upon Savannah after Prévost had learned that Campbell would not need t n hs retreat. South Carolna leaders warned Lncoln that the Brtsh plans nvolved nvadng South Carolna to rally the thousands of fronter Amercans beleved to stll support the Kng, men known as Loyalsts or Tores. Benjamn Lncoln responded wth a strategy of tryng to block ths presumed nvason. As part of ths plan, Ashe took hs men frst to Purrysburg, South Carolna, and from there to Fort Moore bluff, across the Savannah Rver from Campbell s Brtsh and Loyalst forces n Augusta, Georga. Ashe found that holdng what remaned of hs command together grew steadly more dffcult as the rank and fle grumbled that ther enlstments would soon expre and as South Carolna recrutng agents tred to lure away men for ther own commands. Archbald Campbell had actually brought hs command to Augusta for a planned rendezvous wth a force of Loyalsts beng gathered for hm by South Carolna Loyalsts mlta Col. James/John Boyd* on the North Carolna-South Carolna border. They were supposed to have acheved the almost mpossble task of reachng Augusta by February 9, Campbell clamed that he planned to attack the juncton of Ashe's army wth Patrot mltamen - Brg. Gen. Andrew Wllamson s South Carolnans and Brg. Gen. Samuel Elbert s Georgans, but an accdent alerted the Amercans to hs plans. A Brtsh dversonary rad aganst Port Royal, South Carolna, went badly and the outposts that Campbell had set up began to fall to Amercan raders. The Scottsh offcer, not havng heard anythng from Col. Boyd had hs command quetly wthdraw from Augusta on February 14, 1779 and started a retreat towards Savannah. (Unbeknownst to Campbell, Boyd and the 600 men stll wth hm were only hours away and would be defeated on that same day at the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georga.) [*See artcle on the Battle of Kettle Creek n Vol. 3, No. 2, February 2006 SCAR. Ed.] Ashe ordered a pursut but by the tme he managed to move hs troops across the Savannah Rver some two weeks later, he had no real dea as to whch route hs enemy had taken n a largely Map of acton at Brar Creek on March 3, 1779 by Davd K. Wlson Gen. John Ashe had reasons to feel secure. Hs camp had deep waters and swamps on all sdes except to the northwest. He ordered the brdge repared and sent out detachments on varous mssons as he wated for the arrval of other Amercan forces. Ashe dd leave hs supply tran nne mles north of hs camp, however. Brg. Gen. Wllam Bryan, n Ashe s absence, would 26

27 move the camp one mle above the brdge ste. Thousands of men under Gens. Lncoln, Wllamson and other Amercan commanders prepared to march to a rendezvous at Ashe s camp on Brar Creek. Lt Col. Prévost determned to prevent that gatherng from happenng. He selected the best troops from the Brtsh army n Georga for a long march and attack. Hs regulars ncluded the Second Battalon of the 71 st Scots (Fraser s) Hghlander Regment; the Lght Infantry, Grenaders of the 60th Foot; the Georga Dragoons (forty mounted Brtsh nfantry); and artllery. Accompanyng these redcoats was a collecton of Loyalst unts, ncludng frontersmen guerlla fghters known as Loyalst Col. Thomas Brown s Kng s Rangers; more than 200 of the survvors of Boyd s defeated command at Kettle Creek; and Captan John Hamlton s North Carolna horsemen. The frst battalon of the 71 st and two artllery peces approached the burned brdge at the mouth of Brar Creek as a dverson. the wrong cartrdges. Two lnes quckly formed to face the Brtsh and Loyalsts n tme to fre once and maybe twce nflctng most, f not all, of the Brtsh casualtes: fve prvates klled and one offcer and ten prvates wounded. Only two of Ashe s three cannon went nto acton. Men posted at the brdge remaned out of range to help. Elbert had moved hs Georgans out of poston, thus accdentally blockng the fre of some of the troops. When the Brtsh charged, most of Ashe s command broke and fled n lttle more than fve mnutes, takng hm wth them. Members of the 71 st yelled to remember ther Sergeant McAllster, a comrade klled by an Amercan n Augusta. They took few, f any, captves. Samuel Elbert, colonel-commandant of the Georga Contnentals and brgader general of the Georga mlta, held hs ground untl he and some eghty of hs men were fnally overwhelmed. Almost every one of them fell ether klled or wounded. The often-tragc hstory of Georga s Contnentals thus came to an end n ths valant last stand wth Elbert becomng a prsoner of war. The Brtsh found sgned paroles n the pockets of the Georga mltamen that promsed not to support the rebellon, gven by cvlans to Campbell durng the march to Augusta. Overall Amercan casualtes at Brar Creek were 150 to 200 men klled and 173 offcers and men captured. Most of the dead had drowned tryng to escape. That nght the Brtsh searched the swamps for ther enemy n hdng and set fre to brush, resultng n the deaths of more Amercans. An unknown number of Ashe's troops made ther way across the Savannah Rver and "contnued the flght untl they reached the safety of ther own fresdes." Georga Patrot mltamen under Col. John Dooly arrved on the battlefeld the next day and bured the dead. Map by Brtsh Lt. Col. Alexander Campbell, although not an eyewtness to the battle, he was n the area and had access to ntervew the troops and commanders. The Brtsh dversonary attack was on Buck Creek approxmately 3 mles south of Brar Creek. Prévost marched hs mxed assault force northwest for ffty mles, largely along the southwest sde of the Brar Creek. They crossed the creek at Pars Mll on March 2 nd and then proceeded southeast towards Ashe s camp. The once seemngly mpregnable Amercan poston now became a trap. South Carolna cavalry under John Ross spotted the Brtsh advance but then fled wthout sendng any warnng to Ashe. At the 3:00 pm on March 3, 1779, Prévost began hs fnal approach to Ashe s camp wth three columns, each sx men wde. Maj. Sr James Bard and hs lght nfantry formed on the west sde along Brar Creek. Lt. Col. John Matland, commandng the Second Battalon of the 71 st Regment took the center and the Loyalsts marched on the east sde towards the Savannah Rver. The grenaders and the dragoons formed the reserve. Prévost dvded hs artllery among each of hs columns. By contrast, the Amercan army dd not know of the Brtsh presence untl ther enemy started formng for battle only 450 feet from Ashe's camp and the pckets came runnng n wth the news. Each army had roughly 900 men present; Prévost chefly led well prepared and largely dscplned Brtsh regulars but hs opponent had almost all raw troops. Due to not havng cartrdge boxes, the Amercans had to grab ammunton from ther wagons by hand, under ther arms and n ther shrttals. Some solders were gven Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell (n hs memors) took complete credt for plannng and promotng the attack on Ashe s camp. However, he dd not partcpate n t and letters of Gen. Augustn Prévost (Brtsh commander n Georga and the older brother of Jacques Marcus) to Campbell on the Brar Creek march and battle make no menton of any contrbuton by the leutenant colonel. Hs clams may have been only self-promoton. The frst attempt by the Amercan forces to drve the Brtsh from the deep South thus ended. However, had the thousands of Amercan troops succeeded n consoldatng at Ashe s camp, they would stll have lacked numbers, equpment and tranng to have been any threat to ther enemy at Savannah, or even to have protected themselves from a devastatng attack by ther professonal foe wth cumulatve forces of equal or superor numbers. Today a small park and an elaborate hstorcal marker n Screven County commemorate the ste of Brar Creek battlefeld. Sources: Davs, Robert S. Georgans n the Revoluton: at Kettle Creek (Wlkes County) and Burke County. Easley, SC: Southern Hstorcal Press, Howard, Joshua. `Thngs Here Wear a Melancholy Appearance, : The Amercan Defeat at Brar Creek. Georga Hstorcal Quarterly 88 (Wnter 2004): pp Lomask, Mlton. Aaron Burr: The Years From Prnceton to Vce Presdent, New York: Farrar, Straus & Groux, Moultre, Wllam. Memors of the Amercan Revoluton. 2 vols. New York, Davd Longworth, Rankn, Hugh F. The North Carolna Contnentals. Chapel Hll: Unversty of North Carolna Press,

28 Wlson, Davd K. The Southern Strategy: Brtan s Conquest of South Carolna and Georga, Columba: Unversty of South Carolna Press, Wlson, John. Encounters on a March Through Georga. Sylvana, GA: Partrdge Pond Press, General John Ashe, NC Patrot Mlta by Robert S. Davs A major mltary defeat [he was largely not to blame] clouded the career of Gen. John Ashe of Wlmngton, North Carolna, undoubtedly one of North Carolna's most mportant Revolutonary War leaders. Hs father, Englsh born attorney John Baptsta Ashe, became promnent enough n the Cape Fear regon of North Carolna to serve as a long tme member of the Governor's councl. John Ashe was born March 24, 1725 to hm and hs wfe Elzabeth Swann Ashe. The elder John ded n 1734 leavng specfc provsons n hs wll for hs son's educaton. Young John entered Harvard for the class of 1746 but dd not reman long. He found the dscplne of the unversty too confnng. In later years, however, frends would remember hm as one of the most lterate men n North Carolna as he could read French, Latn and Greek. Ashe took on mnor cvl posts and partcpated as a captan of a mlta company n the repulse of the Spansh attack at Brunswck n In 1752, he replaced hs Uncle John Swann n the colonal legslature and on hs frst day he took on the task of respondng to the Governor's openng speech, whch he dd wth a call for the promoton of relgon, educaton and trade. John Ashe became speaker of the assembly n Other hghlghts of hs long career n the colonal legslature ncluded campagns for free publc schools and support of Amercan rghts n the gatherng crss wth Great Brtan. John Ashe also helped lead n the growng resstance to the Royal government, ncludng n opposton to Governor Tryon and the Stamp Act n However, Tryon made Ashe a major general n the colonal mlta n 1768 to help n crushng the Regulators, frontersmen n opposton to corrupt local Royal offcals. Ths campagn, whch Ashe also helped to fnance, ended ths rebellon n John Ashe also became one of the major poltcal and mltary fgures n North Carolna's revolutonary movement. At the head of 500 men, he captured Fort Johnston [Southport, North Carolna] on July 12, He also commanded a regment at the sgnfcant Patrot vctory over North Carolna s Scots Hghlanders and ther Regulator alles at the Battle of Moore's Creek Brdge on February 9, As a major general of mlta, Ashe maneuvered hs troops to keep the Brtsh from landng and the local Loyalsts from rsng n ther support. In answer to constant pleas from the Contnental Congress for troops to be sent south, Ashe receved command of an army of poorly traned and badly equpped Contnentals and mltamen rased to help n the war n Georga and East Florda. However, they were taken by surprse and thoroughly defeated by Brtsh and Loyalst forces under Lt. Col. Jacques Marcus Prévost n the Battle of Brar Creek, Georga, on March 3, Ashe demanded and receved a court of nqury from whch he was acqutted of any dshonor. Hs mltary career was over, however, and hs many contrbutons to the Amercan cause n North Carolna became bured by the nfamy of Brar Creek. (Ashe County, Ashevlle and Asheboro, North Carolna are not named for Gen. John Ashe, but for hs brother Governor Samuel Ashe (Sr.).) John Ashe returned to North Carolna and, after beng captured by the Brtsh n 1781, ded n October of that year from smallpox he contracted whle n prson; not specfcally, as one wrter clamed, of a broken heart. Ironcally, Lt. Col. Prévost ded at almost the same moment from sckness n Jamaca. An equally odd concdence s that Ashe's grandson, Joseph Alston, marred Theodosa Burr, the daughter of the famous Aaron Burr by the wdow of the same Jacques Marcus Prévost. The eventual dsappearance of Theodosa, and the shp she traveled on, n 1812 became one of the great mysteres of the Nneteenth Century. Theodosa ntroduced a young Thomas Sumter, Jr. to hs future brde Natale delange. Gen. Ashe s nephew, Lt. Col. John Baptst Ashe, commanded the North Carolna Contnentals at the Battle of Eutaw Sprngs on September 8, Sources: Cote, Rchard N. Theodosa Burr Alston. Mt. Pleasant, SC: Cornthan Books, Heusts P. Whtesde, "John Ashe," n Dctonary of North Carolna Bography. Wllam S. Powell, Ed. Chapel Hll: Unversty of North Carolna Press, Vol. 1, pp Lomask, Mlton. Aaron Burr: The Years From Prnceton to Vce Presdent, New York: Farrar, Straus & Groux, Rankn, Hugh F. The North Carolna Contnentals. Chapel Hll: Unversty of North Carolna Press, Shpton, Clfford K. Sbley's Harvard Graduates Boston: Massachusetts Hstorcal Socety, 1962, Vol. 12, pp Edtor s suggested addtonal source: Robert P. Broadwater, Amercan Generals of the Revolutonary War A Bographcal Dctonary by (McFarland Press: Jefferson, NC: 2006). The Prévosts of the Royal Amercans by Robert S. Davs The names of the varous Brtsh regments rased before and durng the Amercan Revoluton can be msleadng. For example, Fraser's 71st Scots Hghlander Regment enlsted men n no small part from Ireland and western England. Some regments even had problems wth beng called Brtsh. The Royal Amercans (the 60th) Regment, now the Kng's Royal Rfle Corps, dd nclude some Amercans, although t also carred on ts rolls men from many European natons and ts command became domnated by a Swss famly of offcers. The Prévosts can be traced to Potou, France although, from at least as early as 1570, they were promnent n the affars of Geneva, Swtzerland. The descendants of Augustn Prévost ( ) one branch of ths famly came to so domnate the Royal Amercans Regment n Amerca that ths unt came to be known as the Prévost regment. The oldest of the Prévost brothers, Jean Lous (b. 1718) s beleved to have ded n the Brtsh servce n Inda n Hs younger brother, Augustn ( ), served aganst the French at Fontenoy n 1745, apparently n the Dutch servce. Augustn, however, receved a commsson as major n the Royal Amercans on January 9, 1756 and was dangerously wounded servng wth Wolfe at the Brtsh capture of Quebec from the French n The scar from hs wound earned hm the nckname of "old bullet head" from hs men. In 1761, he was promoted to leutenant colonel and served n the seges of Martnque and Havana before 28

29 returnng to England n 1763, where hs battalon was dsbanded. In , Augustn went to Europe to rase a new battalon of the Royal Amercans for servce n Brtsh East Florda. Augustn Prévost and hs command arrved n East Florda when they were needed most. They were the largest part of the Brtsh Regulars that defended the provnce when Georga joned the Amercan Revoluton. Together wth South Carolna Contnentals and mlta, the Georgans began a seres of nvasons nto East Florda. Prevost's command was dffcult. Hs troops worked wth undscplned rregular and provncal solders, as well as Indans. Relatons between Prévost, Royal Governor Patrck Tonyn of East Florda, and Brtsh Indan Commssoner John Stuart were always straned. In addton to defendng East Florda, Prévost also had to drect offensve operatons aganst Georga and provde support for cattle rustlng operatons by the rregular unts of loyal Amercans (called Loyalsts or Tores); a necessty to keep the cvlans and mltary n East Florda from starvaton. Hs poston would have been dffcult even for more subtle and tactful commanders but Augustn Prévost was reported to have not been popular wth hs men. Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell regarded hm as too old for much more than garrson duty. When Savannah, Georga, fell to a Brtsh nvason force under Campbell from New York, Prévost and hs Royal Amercans Regment marched to Savannah, where he then assumed command. He was promoted to major general on February 19, In the sprng and summer of that year, he drected an aggressve attack aganst Charlestown, South Carolna, that left hs command dangerously dvded. In September of 1779, a French fleet and army arrved n Georga under the command of the Comte d'estang. The French count demanded surrender, whch Prévost reportedly was ready to do when the tmely arrval of the forces he had left n South Carolna saved Savannah for the Kng. Prevost's command successfully repelled a massve jont French and Amercan assault upon fortfed Savannah on October 9, Gen. Augustn Prévost returned to England n 1780 and was awarded a Baronetcy for hs contrbutons to the Crown. He ded n 1786 at hs estate at Hertfordshre, England, reportedly from tropcal dseases he had acqured durng hs Amercan servce. Hs son Augustn Prévost ( ) was a major n the Royal Amercans. Sr Chrstopher Prevost, Bt. and Lady Delores Prevost at Fort Morrs, Georga wth SCAR Edtor/Publsher Charles B. Baxley. SCAR photo. The next younger brother of the above Gen. Augustn Prévost was Jacques Marcus Prévost ( ), another veteran of the Brtsh vctory at Quebec. He was eventually promoted to leutenant general n 1772 and became Royal Leutenant Governor of Antgua. The last of these four Prévost brothers was also named Jacques Marcus (or James Mark) Prévost ( ). He sgned hs correspondence as J. Mark to prevent confuson. Despte hs youth, he had served n the Dutch army n the War of Austran Successon and later receved a commsson as a captan n the Royal Amercans on January 17, Wounded n the dsastrous Brtsh attack aganst French Fort Tconderoga n 1758, he survved to dstngush hmself further n the French and Indan War. In the early 1770s, he was servng n Georga, Florda and the West Indes. Under hs brother Augustn, J. Mark rose to the rank of leutenant colonel and won a major Brtsh vctory at the Battle of Brar Creek aganst the Amercan troops of Gen. John Ashe. Older brother Augustn was relentless and blatant n seekng favors for hs brother. J. Mark dd serve as Royal Governor of Georga untl the return of Governor James Wrght n the summer of J. Mark then traveled to Jamaca, where he was serously wounded puttng down a local uprsng n 1779 and where he ded from llness n Hs wdow, Theodosa Bartow Prévost, was regarded as one of the most beautful and accomplshed women n Amerca. Ther two sons even as teenagers served as offcers n the Royal Amercans. They were later adopted by ther stepfather, the famous Aaron Burr, and would become promnent Unted States ctzens. Sources: Lawrence, Alexander A. Storm Over Savannah: the Story of the Count d Estang and the Sege of the Town n Athens: Unversty of Georga Press, Lomask, Mlton. Aaron Burr: The Years From Prnceton to Vce Presdent, New York: Farrar, Straus & Groux, Wllams, Edward G. "The Prévosts of the Royal Amercans." Western Pennsylvana Hstorcal Magazne 56 (1973), pp Bography: General Samuel Elbert by Robert S. Davs Despte beng the son of Wllam Elbert, one of Georga's frst Baptst mnsters and settlers, Samuel Elbert was allegedly born n Prnce Wllam Parsh, Vrgna, n Orphaned at a young age, he stll grew up to become an ambtous and successful planter, trader wth the Indans, and West Indes merchant n Savannah, Georga. The young man added to hs success and wealth by marryng Elzabeth Rae, daughter of promnent trader wth the Indans and merchant John Rae n The young man started what became a large famly. He became actve n the colony s early Baptst church. Samuel Elbert's great nterest, however, became mltary affars and, as a result, he would serve Georga well n a war that the state otherwse proved ll prepared to fght. Followng the Stamp Act Crss of the 1760s wheren Georga almost devolved nto a state of cvl war, Brtsh colonal authortes let the provnce s mltary establshment deterorate to almost non-exstence and thus left t vulnerable to Indan attack and to nternal threats such as rebellon, bandts, and slave uprsngs. Elbert as a captan of the mlta appealed to Royal Governor James Wrght for permsson to rase a company of grenaders. Wrght declned, knowng of Elbert havng been prevously sympathetc to the rebels. Actng governor James Habersham, however, approved the company and Elbert s commsson of captan to command t, durng Wrght s absence n Elbert traveled to England for formal mltary tranng and equpment for hs new unt. Wrght eventually approved the new 29

30 company and Elbert even founded a correspondng Masonc lodge that would come to nclude many of Georga s most notorous rebels as members. The march of ths company, "The Georga Grenaders," would be carred on Brtsh books of musc for many years despte the fact that Elbert's volunteers took the lead n physcally overthrowng the colonal government of Georga n That year, Samuel Elbert served on Georga's Patrot Councl of Safety and n the Provncal Congress. He, and lkely most of the members of hs company, helped seze the shp Phllpa and ts cargo of gunpowder. The company later took over Augusta for the Georga rebels when the mlta colonel there refused to recognze rebel authorty. Elbert also served on the commttee for Georga's defense and commanded rebel forces n defendng Savannah from a Brtsh fleet n what came to be known as the Battle of the Rce Boats. He receved a commssoned as leutenant colonel of the Frst Georga Contnental Infantry Battalon on January 30, 1775 and colonel of the Second Battalon the followng July 15 at almost the same tme that he became grand master of the Georga Lodge of Masons. Brgader General Lachlan McIntosh became embroled n Georga s partsan and dvsve poltcs, leavng Samuel Elbert to command the state s Contnentals n an ll-fated 1777 nvason of Brtsh East Florda. He also, however, led these same men, whle aboard Georga s fleet of galleys, n capturng the Brtsh East Florda fleet off the coast from Frederca, Georga, n Aprl and lmted fnances wth the same determnaton and effcency that he had brought to hs mltary commands. Whle servng as sherff of Chatham County, Samuel Elbert ded on November 1, Elbert County, Georga, was named n hs honor n Sources: Bennett, Charles E. Southernmost Battlefelds of the Amercan Revoluton Baley s Crossroads, Va.: Blar, Davs, Robert S. The Brtsh Invason of Georga n 1778 Atlanta Hstory 24 (4) (Wnter 1980): pp "George Galphn and the Creek Congress of 1777." Proceedngs and Papers of the Georga Assocaton of Hstorans (1982), pp Derden, John K. "Samuel Elbert." Dctonary of Georga Bography Athens: Unversty of Georga Press, 1983 pp Jones, Charles C. Jr. The Lfe and Servces of the Honorable Maj. Gen. Samuel Elbert of Georga Cambrdge, Ma.: Rversde Press, Smth, Gordon B. "The Georga Grenaders" Georga Hstorcal Quarterly 64 (1980): pp Hstory of the Georga Mlta, Mlledgevlle: Boyd Publshng, Wood, Vrgna Steele. "The Georga Navy's Dramatc Vctory of Aprl 19, 1778" Georga Hstorcal Quarterly 90 (Summer 2006): pp Between the few major battles, Elbert served as the offcer prmarly responsble for protectng the state. He had to deal wth the threat of the Creek Indans to the west; Amercans n South Carolna who supported the Kng (Loyalsts or Tores); and the Brtsh forces n East Florda to the south. At the same tme, he contended wth dsobedence, mutny, and deserton wthn hs own ranks and the ncreasng domnance of South Carolna n all of hs state s affars. Georga s poltcans and the Contnental Congress faled to provde Elbert and hs men wth adequate pay, clothes and equpment. He worked hard, however, to nstll dscplne and tranng n troops depleted by desertons and deaths from battle and dsease. Samuel Elbert ralled what remaned of Georga's mltary to fght the Brtsh nvason of December At the battle for Savannah, he correctly forewarned Major General Robert Howe that the enemy would land at Brewton s Bluff but the general dsagreed and left there only a small force that offered lttle resstance to the Brtsh landng when t came. In the ensung battle for the town of Savannah, Elbert managed to lead most of hs Contnentals to safety. Wth the enemy s capture of mlta Colonel Commandant George Walton n that battle, Samuel Elbert contnued as colonel commandant of what remaned of the Georga Contnental battalons but he also accepted the rank of brgader general and commander of the state mlta. He worked trelessly to rally the state s mltary resources before he and most of what remaned of the Georga Contnentals fell to the Brtsh at the Battle of Brar Creek on March 3, Elbert remaned a prsoner n Savannah when French and Amercan forces suffered a dsastrous defeat n besegng the town n the autumn of Allegedly Brtsh leaders tred to persuade Indan alles to murder hm. In June of 1781, he fnally receved an exchange for Brgader General Hamlton. Promoted to brgader general of the Contnentals, he served under George Washngton at the Sege of Yorktown. In 1785, Elbert receved almost unanmous electon to governor by the resurrected Georga legslature. Despte ll health, he dealt wth the new state's many problems of bandtry, threats of Indan attacks Bob Davs pctured wth hs new book Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonvlle: Essays on the Secret Socal Hstores of Amerca's Deadlest Prson. Robert S. Davs s drector of the Famly and Regonal Hstory Program, Wallace State College n Hancevlle, Alabama, a program that poneers local and famly hstory research n a college envronment. Bob has more than 1,000 publcatons. Hs Revolutonary War research began wth hs report on the Kettle Creek Revolutonary War Battlefeld n 1974 and nclude a number of books and more than 70 artcles n professonal journals. He s the author of Cotton, Fre, and Dreams: The Robert Fndlay Iron Works and Heavy Industry n Macon, Georga, (Mercer Unversty Press 1998) and Requem for a Lost Cty: Salle Clayton's Memors of Cvl War Atlanta (Mercer Unversty Press 1999). Bob s latest book s Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonvlle. Macon: Mercer Unversty Press, Home (205) ; offce (256) ; offce fax (256) ; offce e-mal genws@hwaay.net. blography.pdf 30

31 Southern Campagn Amercan Revoluton Penson Statements The ambtous project by Wllam T. Graves and John A. Robertson to make Revolutonary War solders penson statements avalable on-lne, fully searchable s well underway. Wth over 1,000 now avalable, many for the frst tme, you are nvted to tour and mne these stes for useful nformaton on ndvduals and campagns. These affdavts allow a glmpse nto mltary campagns, ndvduals servce, famly hstory, and mltary organzaton. Penson applcaton of James Fergus W Transcrbed and annotated by Wll Graves [Mnor grammar, punctuaton and spellng correctons made for clarty.] Amended Declaraton State of Tennessee, Carroll County On ths 13 th day of June personally appeared n open court before the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessons of sad County, now sttng, James Fergus, a resdent of sad County and State aged 76 years n November last, who beng frst duly sworn accordng to law doth on hs oath make the followng amended declaraton n order to obtan the beneft of the act of Congress passed June 7, Ths declarant, after beng duly sworn aforesad, deposeth and sath that by reason of old age and consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear postvely as to the precse length of hs servce but accordng to the best of hs recollecton, he served (under the crcumstances as stated n hs orgnal declaraton) not less than the perods mentoned below n the followng grades: for sx months as a prvate volunteer on foot; for sx weeks as a prvate volunteer n the mounted nfantry fndng my own horse; for two months and two weeks, I served as an orderly Sergeant; for one month I served as a Wagon Master; for sx months as a prvate partsan volunteer aganst the Tores as explaned n the concluson of my orgnal declaraton; and for such servces I clam a penson. For the tours durng whch the above servces were performed, ths applcant was not employed n any cvl pursuts. Ths clamant has no documentary evdence and knows of no person (other than those whose affdavts he transmtted wth hs orgnal declaraton and wll agan transmt wth ths) whose testmony he can procure who can testfy to hs servces. He hereby relnqushes every clam whatever to a penson or annuty except the present and declares that hs name s not on the Penson Roll of the Agency of any State. S/James Fergus Sworn to & subscrbed n open court the day and year aforesad. S/Edward Gwn, Clerk Quest. 1 st : When and n what year were you born? Answer: From the account of my parents, I was born n the County of Chester & Provnce of Pennsylvana n the year 1756 & month of November, the day not recollected. 2 nd Have you any record of you age and f so, where s t? Answer: I have a record of my age taken from my Parents n my Famly Bble whch I left wth my son James n Cumberland County Kentucky before I moved to ths place & have a copy of t wth me here. 3 rd Where were you lvng when called nto servce? Where have you lved snce the Revolutonary War and where do you now lve? Answer: I was lvng wth my Father n a part of Cumberland called Sherman's Valley n the State of Pennsylvana & after the summer campagn of '76 & wnter campagn of '76-7 (account of whch wll be gven hereafter) I undertook to study Physc under Dr. Wllam Clune, who at that tme boarded at my Father's and n December 1777, I went wth the Doctor nto Vrgna & n Augusta County we stopped. The Small Pox had broke out there & appeared to be fatal. In Augusta & Albemarle Countes, I asssted the Doctor n the Inoculaton of the Small Pox of several hundred Persons, none of whom ded. In the sprng of 1778, we went to South Carolna, where I had a Brother lvng n what was then called the New Acquston, Camden Dstrct. The Doctor takng to hard drnkng, I qut hm & returned to Pennsylvana. My Father, at the encouragement of my Brother who lved n Carolna, had sold hs land & had determned to move there, whch we dd n the fall of '78. (At ths tme the Tores were gettng very troublesome). I contnued to lve n ths state untl the death of my Father & Mother. I marred n the year In 1794, I moved to Kentucky near Lexngton where I lved three or four years & then moved to Cumberland County Kentucky where I contnued to lve untl December last. I then moved to ths place, vz., Carroll County, W. Tennessee where I arrved n March [of] the present year th How were you called nto servce; were you drafted; dd you volunteer, or were you a substtute and f so for whom dd you substtute? Answer: The Mlta of Pennsylvana; to what Regment I do not recollect; was called out and out of one Battalon of Colonel Watts' Regment of Cumberland County of the Pennsylvana Mlta Eghty four men of us turned out volunteers to march to camp, no drafted men nor substtutes among us. 5 th State the names of some of the Regular Offcers who were wth the troops where you served, such Contnental and Mlta Regments as you can recollect and the general crcumstances of your servce. Answer: Beng n the 76 th year of my age, I fnd my memory very defectve & havng no wrtten documents preserved of the transactons or campagns of whch I am now about to gve an account, after the lapse of so many years, I may n some thngs be mstaken but I wll gve a statement of the tours of duty to the best of my recollecton n whch I have served my country. I thnk t was n the month of June '76 that we enrolled ourselves as a volunteer Rfle company, 84 n number ncludng Offcers n Colonel Frederck Watts' Mlta Regment; every Offcer n the Battalon enrolled themselves as prvates & then we elected by vote our Offcers to command us n the present tour. Our unform was a dark purple coloured Huntng shrt & pantaloons, a good Rfle & Powder horn & shot pouch, Tomahawk & butt were our equpment, all furnshed by ourselves. Our marchng Offcers were Thomas Clark, Capt; Leutenants Samuel Ross, James Fsher & a thrd one I do not now remember for we had no Ensgn. From Sherman's Valley we marched to Carlsle Town, the seat of our County. We lay there fve days to complete our equpments; thence moved on to Harrs's ferry on Susquehanna [Rver]; thence to Mddleton, Lancaster & to Phladelpha; thence went on a sloop up [the] Delaware Rver to Trenton; thence to Madenhead, Prnceton, Kngston, Brunswck & to Perth Amboy where we joned a number of Troops who lay there watchng an Englsh Camp on Staten Island opposte to Amboy. It appeared to me these troops were chefly Mlta. If there were any Regulars I do not now recollect. Col. Watts who commanded our Regment was here wth us. General [Danel] Roberdeau, I thnk from Phladelpha, s all the general offcer whose name I can now recollect. Whle we lay here one evenng we receved orders to prepare wth the rest of the 31

32 Troops to march n the nght & cross the sound nto Staten Island n order to surprse & attacked the Brtsh camp. I would here observe that we dd not le n Town but about half a mle out on the West sde. About dusk, we moved nto Town but a heavy cloud wth thunder & a strong wnd & torrent of ran put a stop to our gong on; the scheme was abandoned, nor was t attempted afterwards whle we lay here. The enemy sometmes ncommoded us by frng from two Feld peces off the Island nto the Town, but fortunately dd us lttle damage. How long we lay here I cannot now say, t was however untl the Battle of Long Island; we heard the frng of the Cannon all day although at 30 mles dstance. The next day an express came to us wth orders to march to New York & I thnk n the evenng we went on, past Elzabeth Town & Newark & to Bergen where our company was statoned. We here lay untl the Brtsh took possesson of New York, dong duty at Powles [Paulus] Hook. We had a far vew of the Brtsh Frgates frng on our boats that were brngng the Ordnance & stores off from Governor's Island n the day. I thnk two days were spent before the Island was farly evacuated. We had a Galley statoned to cover our boats who fred ncessantly so that the smoke whle the ar was calm enveloped the boats & they escaped wonderfully. Whle we lay at the Hook, two Frgates passed us up the Rver. Our Battery opposte the Cty opened [fre] on them & they [fred] on us, untl they entrely passed; what damage we dd them, we knew not, f any & we receved none to speak of. When the Brtsh took possesson of the cty, our company was the last on the ground at Bergen & the Hook, the rest of the Troops were gone. Whle we knew not what to do, a gentleman came to us who announced hmself Major Josephs [?], a supernumerary who had no specal command; he asked our Captan why we stayed here. The Captan sad we were statoned there & could not retreat wthout orders. The Major repled t was a pty so fnd a company should be lost whch undoubtedly would be the case f we stayed much longer where we were & though he had no specal authorty, he would take the responsblty on hmself to order us off & we accordngly marched off to Hackensack old Town. After we left Bergen & Powles [Paulus] Hook & got to Hackensack old Town, I cannot recollect how we maneuvered about afterwards except I very well remember we were encamped at Newark at the tme of the fre n New York. It shone very brght & we were n hopes t was the Brtsh fleet on fre but we soon learned otherwse. How long we lay here, or what tme we were dsmssed, I cannot now recollect. I thnk t was sometme n October we got home, but what tme of the month I cannot say. Before we arrved at home many of the Company were ll of the Yellow Jaundce, myself among the rest, but n course of about three weeks I got t removed. About the last of November, I thnk t was, news came to us Genl Washngton wth the Army was flyng before the enemy through the Jerseys & for all n Pennsylvana that would volunteer ther servce to come mmedately. No draft was talked of & I thnk a bounty was offered to such as would be n Phladelpha before Chrstmas. 30 of us n the Company to whch I belonged turned out, most of whom had been out n the summer campagn wth our brave Captan Clark at our head. We equpped ourselves for the wnter campagn wth all the speed n our power & moved on to Phladelpha. The weather was very severe between Carlsle and Susquehanna. We met Genl [Thomas] Mffln on hs way through the state to hurry the volunteers on that were on ther way & to encourage others to turn out. There was snow on the ground; we crossed the Rver at a Ferry below Harrs's & n the afternoon t came on a thck and heavy snow, but we went on through t tll we got nto Mddletown. We lay there all nght & t contnued to snow all nght & near the mddle of the day t cleared up. Ths was the deepest snow I ever had seen, t was near 4 feet deep on the level ground. Our baggage wagon could not move tll we broke the road before t. We labored on through t wth all possble dlgence. The frst day we went 3 mles, the next 7 mles and the thrd 9 mles. By ths tme we got nto Lancaster. The snow now got shallower & the road somewhat broke. We arrved n Phladelpha between Chrstmas and New Year's Day. The Hessan prsoners taken at Trenton were yet n the cty, but shortly after they were sent on to Lancaster. The weather [beng] severe, we rested a day or two & then moved on to Trenton. The Battle of Prnceton was over. Trenton was evacuated & partly desolate, I thnk t was General [Nathanael] Greene we met here, we lay all nght n the Town & next day we were ordered on to a lttle vllage or hamlet called Crosswcks where we lay n the snow a few days, perhaps a week, wth some Troops & then moved to Prnceton & lay under the command of the brave old veteran General [Israel] Putnam untl near sprng. There was but one company of Regulars wth us here, the rest [were] volunteers or mlta. There was some Jersey Artllery wth us, also some Lght Horse, perhaps 60 or 70. The ground was frozen so hard and deep we could not bury the dead; the sck and wounded some of whom ded every day or nght, we had to throw n the trenches of the redoubts untl the ground thawed n the sprng. We however bured Colonel [John] Haslet of the Delaware lne who fell n the Battle of Prnceton wth the honors of War & I thnk a Major Flemng [sc, Captan John Flemng] of Vrgna, f I mstake not. The Brtsh lay at Brunswck that wnter & we had a pcket guard placed at Kngston then about 3 mles from us on the Road to Brunswck. One day the Brtsh drove n our pcket & the General expected we would be attacked. The alarm guns were fred, the drums beat to arms, the wagons were quckly loaded wth baggage & stores & drove off towards Trenton, all was hurry, but not confuson. We were marched out of Town nto the Plan on the sde next to Kngston, the way we expected the Enemy to meet us & formed nto a lne of battle. One company of Regulars wth muskets & bayonets; one Regment & Colonel Tarbott's [?] volunteers wth rfles and some others wth the Jersey artllery & our few Lght Horse comprsed our lne. We were n expectaton of an attack & kept on the ground untl dark. No enemy appeared & then returned to our quarters; lay on our arms all lght and were n the lne of battle n the mornng by daylght & contnued on the ground tll eght or nne o'clock of the day. We contnued ths course for a week or more. We understood afterwards by deserters what saved us from an attack was the fear that the frng mght brng General Washngton who lay n Morrstown wth the Army on ther backs & ntercept them before they could get back to Brunswck. Numbers of Hessan deserters came to us whle we lay here. The spotted Fever & the small Pox prevaled among us & many of our men ded. The wnter was extremely severe, but we had good quarters n Town, however we frequently went n partes and drove n the Brtsh sentres at Brunswck and harassed them more than they dd us. What tme we were dsmssed from here, I do not recollect. Several of our company ded here, two of the smallpox and others of the spotted Fever, one n Phladelpha where the Fever was ragng & very fatal, another on the road before we got to Lancaster, some got home wth the Fever n them & ded shortly afterwards. I thnk t was sometme n March when we arrved at home, but cannot ascertan the partcular tme. Of the 30 who marched out of our home Company n December, 16 ded, 14 survved. I served as orderly sergeant on ths tour. I have no documentary evdence nether of ths nor the former tour nor do I know any Person n ths part of the country who can testfy to my havng served the aforesad tours. There was I understand last summer a Mr. Robnson lvng not far from Lexngton, Kentucky, who f he s alve must be now about 80 years of age, who knows of my servng as above. Lexngton s upwards of 300 mles from ths place where 32

33 I now lve. A Brother of the sad Robnson was lvng last summer n Tpton County about 100 mles from here, as I have understood, who served wth me n the same company the summer campagn of 76. He was about one year older than myself. These are all I have any knowledge of that may yet be lvng that could testfy of my above servces & whether they are yet lvng, I know not. As I went out wth Captan Clark n both the aforesad tours & returned home wth hm, I receved no dscharge n wrtng. The dscharge was oral. I do not recollect the names of any of the offcers here ths wnter but what I have mentoned above as they were strangers to me then & perhaps I never saw them afterwards. I fnd my memory has faled more n recollectng names than any thng else. In the Autumn of the year 1778, my Father moved to South Carolna and settled n what s now York County, then called New Acquston, Camden Dstrct. Late n the season the Tores hearng of the Brtsh comng to Savannah were n a place called Thcketty, south of Broad Rver & emboded under a Tory Captan Colman [sc, Coleman?]. A Whg Colonel Brannon [sc, Thomas Brandon?] of Far Forest settlement collected a company to oppose Coleman, but unfortunately Brandon was surprsed n hs camp by the Tores & defeated wth the loss of 4 men klled. As soon as we heard of ths defeat, about 300 of us collected under the command of Captan Andrew Love, 2 to whose company I was attached & marched to support Col. Brandon. On the way before we got to Broad Rver, we met Colonel Brandon wth about 20 men flyng from the Enemy & all the wt of Captan Love could not preval wth the Colonel to turn back wth us & pursued the Tores, nor dd he, but went on over the Catawba Rver nto North Carolna before he halted. We pursued on over Broad Rver to Thcketty & Far Forest but found Coleman & hs Tores had gone off to jon the Brtsh n Georga & was got too far ahead of us for us to overtake them, as we were not prepared for a long march. 3 After burnng a number of the Tores houses that were gone, we returned home. In January 1779 there was a called for men to go to Georga to assst that State aganst the Englsh who had got possesson of Savannah & to suppress the Tores who were jonng them there. Colonel Neal [sc, Thomas Neel], 4 Leut. Col. [Samuel] Watson 5 & Major Francs Ross 6 were the feld offcers who commanded the Regment of mlta at ths tme to whch I belong. Mounted men to scour the country & reconnoter [were] the knd of troops called for. 200 men were quckly enrolled for marchng n ths company. I went as a volunteer; whether any were drafted or not, I do not now recollect. Ths detachment was commanded by Leut. Col Watson & Major Ross. Captan James Martn was my company offcer. There were besdes the mounted man a number of foot wth the wagons loaded wth provsons and baggage. It was a very wet wnter, the roads exceedngly deep. We had 200 mles from where we started to Augusta where we were to jon General Wllamson. 7 We had a very uncomfortable march & tedous tme on the Road. I thnk there was eght days on the way. The sun never appeared to us. It sometme raned ncessantly and frequently showery. Ths I can well remember: all that tme the shrt on my back was not dry nor had I them off for we had generally to encamp n the Woods & always to take care of all horses. What tme we got there, I cannot now recollect, however, General Wllamson sent us on from Augusta to jon Genl Ash [sc, John Ashe] 8 at Brar Creek, tme enough to get defeated. Some days after we got there we got ntellgence of the Englsh comng up the opposte [south] sde of the Creek from Ebenezer where they lay between us & Savannah. The Rver was very full by reason of the late rans. The back water extended up the Creek 12 mles at least to where t was fordable from where we lay. To ascertan the truth of ths report, 40 of us were ordered up the Creek to reconnoter; wth ths party I went. We set out late n the evenng wth a gude. About mdnght, we came to a house where was a woman & chldren. We pretended to be a party of Loyalsts from North Carolna comng to jon the Brtsh & wshed to know f she could nform us where they lay & how we could get to them. The woman seemed delghted & told us they were encamped about half a mle from us on the bank of the Creek; that they were on ther way to drve the Rebels out of the Forks & would make us very welcome. Her husband was then wth them at the Creek; that t would be best to wat untl mornng before we joned them or at least tll her husband came home for fear they mght mstake us for Rebels. From her we got all the ntellgence we wanted & after gvng our horses plenty of oats we returned to Camp. The next day & gave General Ashe the above account & that we mght expect them on us the next day at farthest. Notwthstandng ths, General Ashe the next mornng ordered the balance of our detachment that had not been out the day before reconnoterng of 160 men under Major Ross to cross the [Brar] Creek & proceed toward Ebenezer & make what dscoveres they could. A brdge was reparng but not fnshed. Ross & the men swam ther horses over and went on. Two young men were lkewse sent off wth an express to General [SC Patrot mlta] [Andrew] Wllamson at the same tme wth an old man who had lberty to return home. By ths tme the Brtsh had got nto the road between us & Augusta & were comng down on us when they met our men that carred the express and took them prsoners. The old man that was wth them beng some dstance behnd and rdng a swft mare escaped & came back to Camp wth the nformaton that the Enemy was comng on us. It appeared that Genl Ashe took no notce of ths, nor was there any preparaton made for acton tll the Brtsh vanguard was fred on by our sentres. What of us that belonged to Major Ross' detachment that had been on the scout up the Creek and were left n Camp lay about a quarter off from the man Camp to take care of our horses n an old feld, had orders sent us to get our horses, mount them & come nto Camp. Ths we dd. The lne was just formed as we arrved. The left wng [was] commanded by Colonel [Samuel] Elbert 9 who had a Company of Georga Regulars. We rode close along the rear of the lne when the frst general fre was made. As we were on lower ground than the enemy, t passed chefly over our heads. We had got to the extremty of the rght wng where General Ashe commanded by the tme the second fre was made. Ths was our post, but we had not tme to gve more than one fre when the General wheeled & fled & the whole wng wth hm. He was gone 150 yards or more before our lttle party followed. The Brtsh left wng was advancng rapdly & as Colonel Elbert afterwards nformed me, he knew not that the Rght wng was gone tll he found the enemy n hs rear kllng hs men. Of coarse he & all hs men that escaped death were made prsoners. (It was after Col. Elbert was released that I met hm n Vrgna & he gave ths account & added that he fully beleved Genl Ashe betrayed us to the Brtsh & declared that f he ever met wth hm one of them should de before they parted.) Genl Ashe rode a good horse, left hs men & got round the enemy & made to a Ferry above, crossed & escaped, whle the rest of us were drove nto the swamp between the Creek & the Rver. There were several Cuts or Lagoons that crossed between the Creek & the Rver. The banks of these were so steep & deep that the horses that went n could not get out agan & some man could have been drowned had not canes been put nto ther hands & helped them out. Here I left my horse & furnture, threw off my coat & swam. We now got nto a thck canebrake & the enemy pursued us no further. Ths was late n the evenng. 12 of us got together & as t was moonlght n the nght, we formed a small raft of drftwood n the mouth of a lagoon on whch 3 of us wth danger & much dffculty got over the [Savannah] Rver after beng carred about a mle down before we landed. We got out of the Bottom and wondered up the Rver tll daylght and fortunately n the mouth of a branch, we found a large Perogus 10 loaded wth corn. In the bar opposte to us on the other bank we dscovered a great number of the North Carolna men. We quckly rode over & took n as many 33

34 as the boat would bear & caused them to throw out the corn whle we crossed back. By ths means we got all our men that were there off before the enemy came down to the Rver. Major Ross who had crossed the mornng before came n the nght to the camp, not knowng of the defeat. They were fred on & drven back over the Creek, passed the Rver below the mouth of the Creek & there crossed at a Ferry & the next day the remans of our detachment got together & moved up the Rver to Genl Wllamson's Camp & joned the troops there. 11 Many of our men were half naked havng strpped to swm the Rver. The 3 rd of March, we were defeated & that nght there was a lght frost & many suffered wth the cold havng nothng on but a shrt or breeches. Here we lay I know not how long. Here I had the command of a brgade of 12 wagons gven me & was sent wth them to Saluda [Rver] for Flour whch I brought to Camp. About ths tme a party of our men wth Major Ross crossed the [Savannah] Rver above Augusta n pursut of some Indans & came up [on] them, had a small skrmsh n whch the Major receved a Mortal wound, was brought nto Camp & ded n a few days. Shortly after ths, we were dscharged & returned home under the command of Leut. Col. Watson, I thnk n the begnnng of Aprl [1779]. When we returned we found a part of our Regment under the command of Col. Neal [sc, Thomas Neel] was called out & gone on what was called the Stono Campagn. 12 As soon as I got clothes for the summer campagn, I volunteered agan wth a few others and followed on to Orangeburg & fell n wth our Regment under Col. Neel. There Colonels Wynn [sc, Rchard Wnn] & Brown & some others were there wth ther men, all under the Command of Col. [Johannes Chrstan] Senf, a foregn Offcer who t was sad was sent out to dscplne our Southern men. 13 Whle we lay here [n Orangeburg?], Col. Senf lad off the ground for a Fort, and employed our men n cuttng turf & workng on t untl we heard that the Brtsh had crossed Savannah Rver & got to Purysburg. I now for the frst tme began to keep a small journal n a memorandum book whch I contnued untl I was taken wth the Fever & carred to Charleston. On the frst of May '79, we receved ntellgence that the enemy had got possesson of Purysburg. 2 nd of May, preparaton for marchng to meet the enemy was made to set out on the followng mornng. Towards evenng 28 or 29 wagons from Charleston arrved loaded wth Arms, ammunton, entrenchng tools, 2 Howtzers, shells & cannon balls &c &c. [SC Patrot] Governor [John] Rutledge 14 arrved also. 3 rd : the General [alarm] was beat early ths mornng & orders gven for marchng at a mnute's warnng; preparatons for marchng completed. In the evenng the Governor revewed us. 4 th : Paraded & marched off early ths mornng. Took wth us a great number of Tory Prsoners & some of the Queens' Rangers that were taken n Georga & sent here. There were about 300 of us commanded by the Governor & Col. Senf. Went about 10 mles & encamped. 5 th : Marched down Edsto [Rver] about 15 mles to the saw Mlls & crossed the Rver back agan, fndng that the enemy were lkely to get between us & Charleston on ths route; cooked fresh Beef & marched all nght. 3 of the prsoners made ther escape, one was a Leut. of the Queens' Rangers (who came & gave hmself up to us the next day). 7 th : about 9 o'clock [we] halted & took Breakfast; moved on to the Four Holes Brdge; the carrage of a feld pece broke down. The pece was hd n the swamp. Ths evenng, the Artllery that was wth us left us & pushed on for Town, fearng the enemy mght get [there] before them. Note: They were part of the Charleston Tran. I pass over the 8 th & 9 th days. On the 10 th we got nto Town & hoped to have a nght's rest after our fatgung march but an alarm took place & we had to le on the lnes all nght. May 11 th : Ths day Count Pulask 15 wth hs Troop of Horse arrved and n the evenng the Enemy came before the lnes, after they had drven n our pcket guard & Pulask's Horse together wth a company of lght Infantry, who had a severe skrmsh wth the van [sc, vanguard] of the Brtsh Army n whch t was sad we lost of Horse & Foot about 85 men. Straght a lttle after dark, a party of our men went out to set fre to Tar Barrels that were placed n front of our lnes to gve lght durng the nght. At ths tme an alarm was gven & a heavy frng of Cannon & small arms took place on the lnes from one Rver to the other [Ashley to Cooper Rvers, the Charles Town Neck], also from the armed vessels n Cooper & Ashley Rvers. Ths was unfortunate for the party out frng the Tar Barrels; Major Huger 16 & two others I thnk were klled & several wounded by our frng. 12 th : Flags of truce passed between us and the enemy the chef of ths day nothng done. Four man, two whte & a mulatto & Negro were taken outsde the lnes & brought n [t beng] supposed [that these 4 men were] to be desertng to the enemy; the Governor comng by at the tme was asked what should be done wth them. He sad hang them up to the beam of the gate by whch they were standng. Ths was mmedately done & there they hung all day. 13th: last nght the enemy retreated slently & crossed Ashley [Rver] before mornng; our Lght Horse brought n a number of deserters & some prsoners that were stragglng behnd ths day. From ths tme to the 25th of ths month we lay here & kept guard on the lnes, & then marched off to jon Genl [Benjamn] Lncoln, 17 whch we dd on the 23rd at Dorchester. May 24 th : ths mornng, perhaps two hours before day, I joned a Regular Company of 40 men who went as the advance guard of the Army. The Army followed n the mornng. In the evenng we got to the church at Beacon's Brdge [sc, Bacon's Brdge?], the plank of whch was taken off; drove the Brtsh pcket from the opposte shore; slept under arms all nght. 25th: ths mornng a Party from our Army wth a Feld pece came down and repared the brdge; returned back & we the advance guard passed over to the sde next [to] the Brtsh Camp; set out sentres & remaned there tll evenng when Pulask wth hs Horse came over wth 40 Foot who joned us. The Lght Horse passed us on the road leadng to the Brtsh Camp. We quckly formed & ran after them tll the Brtsh pcket fred on them & klled one of Pulask's men; he charged on them & klled four of the guard & drove them n. At ths tme we were formed n hs rear to cover hs retreat & he came slowly back by us & we wheeled about & followed after. Before we got to the brdge, we found our Army had passed t & was formed n an old feld on our rght. The Brtsh, however, dd not choose to qut ther entrenchments but lad stll. We dd not stop or joned the Army but marched by and kept marchng & countermarchng all nght, often formed n lne & agan movng on tll near daylght when we came to our Army drawn up n a lne of Battle n front of the Brtsh entrenchments. We were then formed wth the lne on the extremty of the rght wng & had lberty to st down. At ths tme Genl Lncoln was examnng the stuaton of the Brtsh & t no doubt appeared to hm that they were too strongly posted for hm to force ther works wthout losng too many men, perhaps falng altogether. And so he moved back over the Brdge to the old Camp early n the mornng. Ths was the thrd day from [when] we left Dorchester before day & had no sleep or rest, drnkng bad water & endurng the scorchng sun by day & the chllng dews by nght. 21st: ths day n the evenng I was taken wth a hgh Fever & was carred over the Rver to our baggage wagon by Captan Andrew Love & hs brother. May 27, 1779: here ends my journal. I went n to Charleston to Dr. Davd Ramsay, 18 who I understood was Prncple of the hosptal and the Cty for some medcne. He sent t but advsed me to be brought nto the hosptal. I repled I had seen the hosptals n Phladelpha, Prnceton and Newark and would prefer dyng n the open ar of the woods rather [than be] stfled to death n a crowded hosptal. I had a relaton lvng n the Cty who hearng of me, sent for me to be brought to hs house to lve there. I was taken there n a wagon & by the tme I got n I was partly 34

35 nsensble. My frend brought the doctor to see me and he ordered what he thought proper & called duly mornng and evenng to see me untl the Fever was broke; how long that was, I know not now. It appears lke a dream to me now. To the great care & attenton of the humane & kndhearted Dr. Ramsay, under God, I am ndebted for my beng a lvng, though nfrm, old man at ths day. Ths Fever was broke on me at the tme there was a sham buryng of Count Pulask wth the honors of War n ths Cty for I can recollect the frng of Cannon all day & what t was for I was told. I contnued n a convalescent state a long tme. I left the Cty sometme n the wnter to go to see my Parents n the upper part of the State & was told afterwards that the Brtsh landed about a week after I left t. Thus I have gven n detal an account of the four Tours I served n the Army Regularly. After the fall of Charleston to the end of the war, I dd duty as a partsan under Genl Sumpter [sc, Thomas Sumter] & others n the upper part of the State, dspersng & keepng down the Tores. Of the tme I spent n ths way, I am now unable to gve a partcular account. It was a perlous tme & we were n a contnued state of warfare untl after Cornwalls' surrender n whch warfare I had my share. He relnqushes every clam whatever to a penson or annuty and declares that hs name s not on the penson roll of the agency of any state and that he has no documentary evdence. S/James Fergus Sworn to and subscrbed n open court. S/Edward Gwn, Clerk 1 James Fergus ( ) was of Scotch-Irsh descent. 2 Andrew Love was a captan under Colonel Thomas Neel n the New Acquston mlta. Bobby Glmer Moss, Roster of South Carolna Patrots n the Amercan Revoluton (Baltmore, Genealogcal Publshng Co., Inc., 1983) (herenafter cted as Moss, SC Patrots) It s not clear whch engagement Fergus s descrbng n the foregong text. Whle the Tores were actve early n the war n the South Carolna backcountry as evdenced by the frst battle of Nnety Sx [November 18-21, 1775] and the Snow Campagn [late December 1775], they remaned relatvely subdued untl the nvason of South Carolna by Sr Henry Clnton's forces n early 1780 and the subsequent fall of Charleston on May 12, Ths transcrber s unaware of any confrontaton between the Tory and Whg forces "late n the season" of Although a Tory offcer by the name of Robert Coleman dd serve n John Harrs Cruger's forces defendng the star fort whle under sege from the Nathanael Greene' at the sege of Nnety Sx n May-June 1781, no reference could be found of a "Captan Colman" or "Captan Coleman" attackng forces under Col. Thomas Brandon n late Brandon was attacked by Tores led by Loyalsts mlta Maj. Wllam Bloody Bll Cunnngham n June 8, 1780 and t s possble that Fergus s makng some sort of very muddled reference to that engagement. 4 Thomas Neel ( ) was a mlta colonel commandng Patrot forces from the New Acquston terrtory of South Carolna, klled at the Battle of Stono Ferry. Moss, SC Patrots, p Samuel Watson ( ) served as Lt. Col. of Thomas Neel's New Acquston regment of SC Patrot mlta. He succeeded to command of the regment upon Neel's death at the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, Moss, SC Patrots, p See, also, the bographcal sketch posted at onel_samuel_watson.htm. 6 Francs Ross ( ) served as a captan under Col. Thomas Neel on the Cherokee Expedton n the summer of Moss, Roster, p In the sprng of 1779, Ross was wounded n a skrmsh wth the Cherokees and ded from hs wounds on March 31, Wllam A. Graham. General Joseph Graham and Hs Papers on North Carolna Revolutonary Hstory, Ralegh: Andrew Wllamson ( ) was the commandng offcer of the South Carolna backcountry mlta from the ncepton of the war untl the fall of Charleston on May 12, He led the South Carolna mlta not only durng the Cherokee Expedton n 1776 but also at Brar Creek, Stono Ferry and other engagements before takng parole at Nnety Sx n June He took parole along wth such other notable backcountry Whgs as Andrew Pckens and LeRoy Hammond. Unlke Pckens and Hammond, however, Wllamson never resumed actve partcpaton n the Whg mlta causng hm to be labeled as the "Arnold of the South." Ths label s unjust because, unlke Benedct Arnold, Wllamson never took up arms aganst hs country and he dd provde Nathanael Greene wth ntellgence regardng Brtsh actvtes n and around Charleston untl the end of the war. Hs spyng on behalf of the Whgs lead the South Carolna legslature to lft the confscaton order aganst Wllamson's estate, but hs estate was amerced. Mark M. Boatner III, Encyclopeda of the Amercan Revoluton, Stackpole Books, Mechancsburg, Pennsylvana, 1994), (herenafter cted as Boatner, Encyclopeda), p John Ashe ( ) was brgader general of the North Carolna State Troops set by General Rchard Caswell to renforce General Benjamn Lncoln n hs assault on Savannah. A surprse attack on hs troops at the Battle of Brar Creek resulted n ts almost total loss. Ashe was court-martaled (General Wllam Moultre was the precedng offcer) and severely censured for "want of suffcent vglance." Greatly depressed from ths experence, Ashe returned to North Carolna and ded there from smallpox n Powell, Ed., Dctonary of North Carolna Bography, Vol. 1, pp See artcle by Robert S. Davs n ths edton of SCAR. 9 Samuel Elbert ( ) as a Savannah merchant who served n the Georga mlta rsng to the rank of Major General n the mlta. Wounded and captured at the Battle of Brar Creek, he was exchanged n June Toward the end of the Revoluton, he was brevetted as a brgader general n the Contnental lne. He was elected Governor of Georga n See artcle by Robert S. Davs n ths edton of SCAR or 10 Tradtonally spelled "progue," the term descrbes a flat-hulled boat or canoe ntended for use on stll water such as n the Lousana swamp or marsh areas. The Lews and Clark expedton used progue because ther lghtweght allowed for easy portage between rvers. 11 The battle descrbed by Fergus s the Battle of Brar Creek that occurred on March 3, Patrck J. O'Kelley, Nothng but Blood and Slaughter: The Revolutonary War n the Carolnas, Volume One: , (N.p.: Booklocker.com, Inc., 2004)(herenafter cted as O'Kelley, Slaughter One) pp In January 1779 Brtsh Southern Theatre Commandant, General Augustn Prévost, had hs headquarters n Savannah and had two feld detachments operatng: Lt. Col. Archbald Campbell had captured Augusta on January 30, 1779, but wthdrew two weeks later and Lt. Col. J. Mark Prévost, was operatng out of Ebenezer, Georga. 12 The Battle of Stono Ferry was fought near Rantowels, SC on June 20, 1779 wth the Amercan Whg forces under the command of Major General Benjamn Lncoln and the Brtsh forces under the command of Leutenant Colonel John Matland. O'Kelley, Slaughter One Col. Thomas Neel of the New Acquston Patrot SC mlta was klled n ths battle along wth 33 other Whgs. 13 Col. John (Johann) Chrstan Senf (?- 1808) was a Hessan engneer orgnally employed n the servce of Brtsh General 35

36 John Burgoyne. Senf was captured at the Battle of Saratoga and decded to swtch hs allegance to the Amercan cause. He was assgned to serve n the Southern Department of the Contnental Army under General Horato Gates. He was detached to meet wth SC Patrot mlta Gen. Thomas Sumter durng the ll-fated Battle of Camden on August 16, After the war, he remaned n South Carolna. In 1793, he engneered and supervsed the constructon of Amerca's frst summt canal, the 22-mle long Santee Canal that connected the Santee and Cooper Rvers. Senf ded n Great Falls, South Carolna n 1808 and s beleved to be bured on one of the slands created by the mpoundng of the Catawba Rver for hydro-electrcal producton n the early 1900s. [Ed. Lt. Col. Senf was probably not n SC durng 1779.] 14 John Rutledge ( ) was the frst presdent of South Carolna under the new consttuton passed n He later served terms as the Governor of the South Carolna under the Consttuton passed n 1778, U. S. Congressman, assocate justce of the U.S. Supreme Court and as the nterm Chef Justce of the U. S. Supreme Court. See, Davd Paul Reuwer, "South Carolna's Supreme Court Nomnee Rejected," Southern Campagns of the Amercan Revoluton, August 2005, Vol. 2, No. 8, posted at and James Haw, John & Edward Rutledge of South Carolna, The Unversty of Georga Press, Athens and London, Casmr Pulask, c , a Polsh nobleman who volunteered to serve n the Contnental Army. Apponted by Congress as a brgader general, he commanded a brgade of dragoons servng under George Washngton. He was klled durng an ll-fated cavalry charge of the Sprng Hll Redoubt at the Sege of Savannah on October 9, Boatner, Encyclopeda, pp Benjamn Huger ( ) was a major n the Frst Regment of South Carolna State Troops. Moss, SC Patrots, p Benjamn Lncoln, , was the commander of the Southern branch of the Contnental Army from September 25, 1778 untl hs surrender of hs army at Charleston on May 12, Davd B. Matten, Benjamn Lncoln and the Amercan Revoluton (Unversty of South Carolna Press, Columba, 1995). 18 Dr. Davd Ramsay ( ) was a physcan (educated at Prnceton and a graduate of the Unversty of Pennsylvana's medcal school), Contnental Congressman and hstoran (author of hstores of South Carolna n the Revoluton, a 3-volumn hstory of the Unted States and a bography of George Washngton, among other works). He practced medcne n Charleston and served as a surgeon durng the Revoluton. 8 th Generaton descendants of NC Patrot mlta Col. Frederck Hambrght, a hero of Kngs Mountan, wth the Corps of Dscovery at the Old Shloh Presbyteran Church Cemetery. Met at the 2002 Tarleton Symposum n Camden, marred n Charleston, SC on November 15, 2006, both good frends of the Revoluton: Congratulatons to Carol Buckler and Calvn Keys. A Corps of Dscovery, well spent, at the Kngs Mountan Monument. November 19, SCAR photo. 36